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> That's boilerplate for positions that can't legally require a degree. They'll still ask and filter on CS questions. I don't have a degree, I haven't had a jo
by lsc 9y ago
> That's boilerplate for positions that can't legally require a degree. They'll still ask and filter on CS questions.
I don't have a degree, I haven't had a job that didn't either straight require a college degree or require a college degree "or equivalent experience" - I've been mostly employed for 20 years now; I'm sure there were a lot of places where my resume went in the bin because there was no 'education' section, but there are plenty of places where it did not.
Sure, sure, they ask CS questions, but... I can handle most of the CS questions even though I have approximately an 8th grade math education, according to khan academy (I recently took the GRE; 95th percentile verbal, 45th percentile quantitative, so I guess that's '8th grade for people who are good at math') - I'm not saying I'm good at the CS stuff, but I can code up a reasonable linked list, and can code up a bubble sort and a quicksort and tell you when to use which.
Point being, you can learn the CS stuff without college without too much sweat. CS, as tested in interviews, is way easier, say, than a community college calculus class.
- rhizome 9y agoHave you ever been paid to write a linked list or bubble sort?
- lsc 9y agoLinked list, yes. It is hard to write anything in c without doing a linked list. You aren't a real Unix sysadmin if you don't have at least really basic c skills. Bubble sort, no. The libraries are enough better than I am to put up with the libraries, and in my space, if it matters, you use a database anyhow.
- rhizome 9y agoSo to circle back to my point, writing C has a specific need for linked list questions, but many, many more interviews raise the topic than just those for C writers.
- lsc 9y agoSure, it's a ritual that doesn't directly relate to the work required, like all interviews. Evaluating someone before you hire them is hard - Being interviewed and getting hired, in my experience, is way easier than interviewing, and making a good decision. I'm just saying that learning the algorithms question for a interview isn't exactly electrical engineering, if you know what I mean. Programming algorithms is way easier, as far as I can tell, than the rest of engineering in that it's largely just a step-by-step process; there's some logic involved, but these are all things that can be done by a person who hasn't passed an undergrad algebra course or equivalent test. Every time I go to an interview? When I'm done, I write down all the questions I got wrong. I mean, not the exact questions, but the concepts that are asked about. For a certain place and time? often the questions are super similar even when you are interviewing at different companies. More than once, I fail one interview and the same question gets asked on the very next interview. Well, I looked it up, and I got the job. Point being? every time an interviewer asks you about something you don't know, you spend time researching it. You figure out what is the right answer (test on your next interview) and then you add that answer to your spaced repetition setup. Yes, there are some positions that really do require a degree (either for the work, or for the "culture fit" or prejudice or whatever) But asking algorithms questions at the interview definitely is not the same thing as requiring a degree. Really, you can think of this as the sort of social ritual I imagine is required of people working outside of tech. memorize bubble sort? or how to match the right kind of uncomfortable shoes with the right sort of impractical pants? I've made my choice. ''