Skill is good and educational certificate is also good. Having any of them can actually put food on your table, but the question is which of them will you let go for the other. I mean education can get you a white collar job the same way a skill can too. For me i will let go of the skill because skill without basic education is not good at all. Because I have seen a situation whereby a guy with good skill who got a job was unable to give quotation and he lost the job .Formal education is good for everyone.
Between the two, I will always go with having a skill rather than having an educational certificate or diploma.
I've seen businessmen that became successful despite not finishing their schooling. Zuckerberg, and Jack Ma are the 2 that comes to my mind instantly. They have the skill, but didn't have the certificate. Ending? They became successful people. While I believe that having both would be better, if I need to choose one over the other, it will be having a skill. One skill is what you need in order to change your life.
Having that certificate is good no doubt, but I've also seen people that have the paper, but still didn't got a job. Why? Because they don't have any skill to offer in the first place. For me, having a skill will make you better, and having more than 1 skill makes you an even better person.