Can you end up chasing too many qualifications to feel enough?

[Worryworker48]

Didn't want to put this in aibu.

But is there a thing where you have or try to get too many qualifications ?
I do have adhd and dyslexia so didn't do as well as I should have done at school.
12 gcses, 11a-c and 1 d which I've been so ashamed about. Then I bombed my A Levels DDU. But since then I seem to be some what needing to get more qualifications!
I started out with CELTA/DELTA ( TEFL)
Then 2 masters moving into IT.
Now I have more IT qualifications than you can shake a stick at.
Its probably an inferiority complex
As my df has a PhD and I went to public school but when will I feel I've done enough?
I'm very respected in my field, I'm a key speaker at conferences but l my lizard brain keeps saying to me I'll feel better if I do more.
Does anymore else feel like this?

Oh yes. 10 GCSEs, including 2 from evening classes, 2 AS-levels (evening classes), 3 A-levels, BA, MSc, level 5 apprenticeship and diploma, CELTA, proofreading, swimming teacher, former lifeguard, various IT certifications, public speaking certs, training certs (as in how to write training courses), first aider at work.

No one gives a shit, though, and my mother is dead, so, yeah, I don't know why. (I think a lot of it stems from her asking, "why is that one a B?" when I got my GCSE results, rather than, "I'm so proud of you, darling, with all those As.") Sometimes IT certifications is because work thinks we must all get certified in our dev plans, but mostly it's just me doing evening classes and stuff.

I have a new manager, and so far, he seems to think I'm good at my job. I am very unused to being told this, and I think picking up certificates is partly to prove to people I am good enough, even if they think my ovaries mean I just can't do IT or management properly.

I have been studying since 2018. I got my undergrad in 2001. Then I got a new job and a manager who thinks education builds cvs. I have done pgcert in QI, pgcert coaching. Masters in leadership. Pgcert in education. Executive leadership coaching. Plus various shorter course on human factors and just culture.

I enjoy studying and lucky they have all been funded. But it’s not gotten me more pay, just a more varied job. But one more which I want to do in occupational psychology to do.

poor DP says I will never stop. I have to admit I am fed up now. Only been to my undergrad graduation. Think might go to this one.

For me as a recruiting manager, I used to take ‘too many’ qualifications as a bit of a red flag.

i found that some people applying thought that the qualifications were better than actual experience, so expected better salary or treatment, but , as they didn’t have the requisite hands on experience, were unable to deal with tricky situations / didn’t have the tools or strategy to make things work.

Another thing was taking time off work (and costing the employer money in training) for qualifications which then weren’t used in a beneficial way to work. So the employer/ wider team were impacted in the short term, but also didn’t benefit in the long term.

Bear in mind the impact of all this study/ training on those around you at work and home, and how it comes across as well.

In short, yes, OP!

I have a lot of qualifications, but always seem to want and need more than I need for my job. For me, I think it feeds into my perfectionism... I don't really care about competing with others, but I have to better myself. To be fair, some have opened doors (or, hopefully, will do soon- I have aims to do something else), but others are just for me and my interests.

I also feel the need to keep learning new things, because learning doesn't stop when we're at school, and my brain can't switch off. I constantly need to have the next thing to do, or to look forward to!

Yes, my dsis does this. She has two bachelors which are mentioned at least twice every family gathering. She will spend years at university with a fully funded student loan, gain the degree in some area and then spend a few months in post before deciding it’s not for her and returning to student life. She doesn’t fund this herself as she has no savings and lives in social housing.

meanwhile I am in a corporate position earning a relatively decent salary for someone without a degree but must endure the comparisons and my dear parents insinuating that she’s performing heart surgery while I do my little office job

Tara Mohr addresses this specific issue in her book ‘Playing Big’. It’s brilliant and I have found it hugely helpful.