Alternative Credentials

[Alpha]

Companies may say they value skills over degrees but do they really?
https://www.edsurge.com/news/2022-04-20-...r-promises

[sanantone]

I already knew it was bull. Google won't even look at you unless you have a computer science degree or extensive experience. According to them, this isn't subjective. People who are self-taught or go through these bootcamps and have little experience mostly fail their technical interviews.

[LevelUP]

There is a Youtuber that got a job with Google without a computer science degree.

His degree was a math degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Then he took a coding bootcamp.

After that, he practiced a lot on LeetCode in order to pass the coding interviews. Generally, the coding interview requires some knowledge of data structures, which is usually taught in a computer science degree.

When I look at Indeed postings for coding jobs, generally, I see either 4 years of experience required or a technical type of college degree.

I have heard billionaires like Elon Musk say that you don't need a college degree. But how many engineers does he hire without a college degree?

Many people come to DegreeForum looking to get a  degree to get a promotion or have been turned down for other reasons because they don't have a degree.

So while technically, it may be true that you could land some high-skilled jobs without a college degree, some employers and HR departments could be biased towards those without a college degree.

[MNomadic]

There is a Youtuber that got a job with Google without a computer science degree.

His degree was a math degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Then he took a coding bootcamp.

After that, he practiced a lot on LeetCode in order to pass the coding interviews. Generally, the coding interview requires some knowledge of data structures, which is usually taught in a computer science degree.

An Ivy League grad with a math degree, even without any coding experience, is going to have a lot more potential to keep up with, understand, and apply what they're learning in a BootCamp than any other average joe without a prestigious degree, mathematical foundation, and experience with learning. 

Even with dedicated data structure courses, a lot of CS grads are known to spend months grinding out leetcode to prepare for those high stake interviews. 


I've always found it interesting that there's a big anti-degree mentality in some IT communities citing the theoretical guy who started with helpdesk and a CompTIA cert and worked their way up to being a CISO at their organization. Yeah, it's possible to make a great career for yourself without a degree, but you're severely limiting your opportunities and you're competing against other people who have the same experience, skills, and certs as you PLUS a degree. I always advise people that if they have the opportunity to pursue a degree without going into debt, they can greatly enhance their career prospects by doing so because breaking into tech, even with a degree, can be an uphill battle.

[sanantone]

There is a Youtuber that got a job with Google without a computer science degree.

His degree was a math degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Then he took a coding bootcamp.

After that, he practiced a lot on LeetCode in order to pass the coding interviews. Generally, the coding interview requires some knowledge of data structures, which is usually taught in a computer science degree.

When I look at Indeed postings for coding jobs, generally, I see either 4 years of experience required or a technical type of college degree.

I have heard billionaires like Elon Musk say that you don't need a college degree. But how many engineers does he hire without a college degree?

Many people come to DegreeForum looking to get a  degree to get a promotion or have been turned down for other reasons because they don't have a degree.

So while technically, it may be true that you could land some high-skilled jobs without a college degree, some employers and HR departments could be biased towards those without a college degree.

There's a YouTuber who has a political science degree from an Ivy League school, she taught herself how to code, worked as a software engineer for a smaller company for a little while, and got a job at Google making $200k by the age of 26. She did take some computer science classes in college, however. 

Google was exposed for giving preference to graduates of prestigious universities. On its own, that's not exactly a bad thing, but it contradicts their message that a degree shouldn't be required to get advanced tech jobs. Not only do they have a strong preference for degrees, but they also have a preference for prestigious colleges.