4 ms·
In interviews, the second most common question I get asked is, "Why don't you have a degree?" followed by "Are you planning on going back?". More than often, th
by bpchaps 10y ago
In interviews, the second most common question I get asked is, "Why don't you have a degree?" followed by "Are you planning on going back?". More than often, the questions have a strong No True Scotsman feeling to them. My experience is solid and my personal projects are fun and reflect passion. Yet, not having a degree is a detriment to me somehow still. Why? I can't think of a single good reason why so many employers would think that way.
Hell, friends and family still try to get me to go back to school, too. I've yet to find a good way to explain why school isn't useful and an enormous waste of time for me. It's always, always followed up with the argument that I have less job opportunities, which is fine. I wouldn't want to work at a company that would limit me like that, anyway.
If it happens to me with a good background and strong skills set, then it happens to others, but worse - especially if you're just starting out.
- HappyTypist 10y agoThat depends on where you apply. I have never been asked about my education and I only have around 5 years experience.
- bpchaps 10y agoI apply at a lot of places and have a lot of interviews since I prefer to do contract work nowadays. For a while, a lot of that included practice interviews for places I wasn't really interested in, but wanted to get a better feel for the job market. Interest vs a lack of interest doesn't seem to change the education question sets. But that's not really the point. The point is that surface level things trump all else. Companies in all flavors - big, small, startup, medium, etc - all do it.
- Swizec 10y agoStrangely, even after publishing books in my field, people still ask me if I'm ever going back to finish my degree. Stranger still, the US government gave me a genius visa (O-1) despite my not having graduated. I think it's one of those "If I had to do it, you have to do it" type situations. Or people are just curious and wonder if I'm ever going back to school. It's hard to tell sometimes.
- bpchaps 10y agoYeah, both definitely happen. A majority of it feels like it's the former, though. Usually it's the same crowd that has huge knowledge gaps and gets offended at being corrected. (Btw, do you have any links to your books?)
- gozur88 10y ago>Yet, not having a degree is a detriment to me somehow still. Why? I can't think of a single good reason why so many employers would think that way. Since employers can't give IQ tests any more, they have come to rely on your college alma mater as a proxy for an IQ test. If you don't go to college, they don't know how you fit in with other candidates. Yes, college has become a $100k+ IQ test.
- michaelbuddy 10y agoEmployers will learn soon enough that the best and brightest in IT think actually think critically and know that university education is a negative, and probably will be for at least the next 5 years to a decade. Tech schools and accomplishments are where it's at.
- ArkyBeagle 10y agoThe employers I worked for that did know that are no longer in business. No accusation of correlation here, just that this once was not at all uncommon.
- gozur88 10y agoI've been thinking employers would stop doing this for twenty years, but I haven't seen any movement in that direction.
- adrianN 10y agoI disagree. What makes you think that the best and brightest don't go to college and do a PhD? Not everybody wants to make as much money as possible as soon as possible.
- venomsnake 10y ago> "Why don't you have a degree?" My usual, also true response is - "By the time I went to the university, already knew more than the people teaching there, so it was pointless" We do need exam only degrees without the waste of 4 years for something that could be picked up in a month or two.