4 ms·

Another issue worth noting is getting past the set requirements to be evaluated by a human. I'm 30, without a college education, and worked for Apple retail as

by two2two 11y ago

Another issue worth noting is getting past the set requirements to be evaluated by a human. I'm 30, without a college education, and worked for Apple retail as a 'Genius' for 5 years. That meant enough at the time to get me a job at Hulu with the expectation of upward mobility. Unfortunately, Hulu's executives made poor decisions and the type of work I was doing was unbearable. After leaving, I've been unable to find a job due to my application submissions missing a key component to even be considered; a college degree. Now, no one cares I worked for Apple like they used to.

ajmurmann 11y ago
The whole college degree as a filter thing is the laziest thing a company could do to quickly get through a stack of applications. On the other hand the market is apparently in their favor enough that they can afford to use lazy filters like these that might lead to missing out on an awesome employee.
- michaelbuddy 11y ago
  There really needs to be a way to get honorary degrees of some sort where you've put in the work. College degrees are something focused to complete, which shows initiative, but in terms of classes and skills they are so unfocused i'd rather see somebody so focused within a niche with no degree because they knew college would hurt their ambition.
  - michaelbuddy 11y ago
    What's with the downvotes? Somebody actually going to refute that college degrees aren't as focused? Because that's pretty hard to argue given all of the requuired non-essential tasks and all the electives which are just whatever classes that you have to pay for, but can be complete throwaways.
  - nradov 11y ago
    Honorary degrees are usually granted to people who have achieved something particularly noteworthy in the field, or who make large donations to the school. I think what you're actually asking for is academic credit for work experience. And indeed some of the lower-tier online colleges such as University of Phoenix or Kaplan University do offer that option. So if you just want to check the box of having a Bachelor's degree then that might be an option, but be aware that many employers don't take such degrees seriously.
cozuya 11y ago
Are you a developer? In my experience probably 75% of places I've interviewed at do not care or ask about my lack of degree, just if I have the skills experience and personality to do well at what they are looking for.
- mikestew 11y ago
  And all of the places that didn't call you into an interview pitched your resume as soon as it came in because you didn't have a degree listed. The parent's point still stands. Not that I disagree with your overall point, as I don't have a degree myself and stay employed just fine. But I'd bet money I've been filtered out of some places due to the lack of a degree.

by two2two 11y ago

ajmurmann 11y ago

The whole college degree as a filter thing is the laziest thing a company could do to quickly get through a stack of applications. On the other hand the market is apparently in their favor enough that they can afford to use lazy filters like these that might lead to missing out on an awesome employee.

michaelbuddy 11y ago
There really needs to be a way to get honorary degrees of some sort where you've put in the work. College degrees are something focused to complete, which shows initiative, but in terms of classes and skills they are so unfocused i'd rather see somebody so focused within a niche with no degree because they knew college would hurt their ambition.
- michaelbuddy 11y ago
  What's with the downvotes? Somebody actually going to refute that college degrees aren't as focused? Because that's pretty hard to argue given all of the requuired non-essential tasks and all the electives which are just whatever classes that you have to pay for, but can be complete throwaways.
- nradov 11y ago
  Honorary degrees are usually granted to people who have achieved something particularly noteworthy in the field, or who make large donations to the school. I think what you're actually asking for is academic credit for work experience. And indeed some of the lower-tier online colleges such as University of Phoenix or Kaplan University do offer that option. So if you just want to check the box of having a Bachelor's degree then that might be an option, but be aware that many employers don't take such degrees seriously.

cozuya 11y ago

Are you a developer? In my experience probably 75% of places I've interviewed at do not care or ask about my lack of degree, just if I have the skills experience and personality to do well at what they are looking for.

mikestew 11y ago
And all of the places that didn't call you into an interview pitched your resume as soon as it came in because you didn't have a degree listed. The parent's point still stands. Not that I disagree with your overall point, as I don't have a degree myself and stay employed just fine. But I'd bet money I've been filtered out of some places due to the lack of a degree.