Backwards
If you want to get technical, I was teaching a class at Oxford before I had any degree besides my High School Diploma. That really is a bit backwards. I've always been a learner. When a new technology came out, I had fun just trying to get it to work. Turns out I was a decent security architect and had to learn writing skills and teaching skills to promote the projects I was working on.
I took classes at my local genealogy library and constantly put those learnings into practice as I researched my tree. It wasn't until I retired from my tech job that I focused solely on genealogy. The first major class was one that used Tom Jones's book on writing proofs. Then I enrolled in ProGen. Both were great help in preparing me to submit my portfolio for certification. Thankfully, I passed and now proudly use the CG title.