4 ms·

I suspect the boot camp thing is signaling. We don't quite know what to expect from boot camps yet. I'm a high school drop out with no diploma. It's never come

I suspect the boot camp thing is signaling. We don't quite know what to expect from boot camps yet. I'm a high school drop out with no diploma. It's never come up during any hiring process in the 17 years I've been doing this. That said, I've only had two long term jobs. I spent years doing contract work, and I mostly got contracts by word of mouth. I've been on a number of hiring teams, mostly at Puppet. I was also a hiring manager at Puppet for a while. Education never came up once — I don't remember even talking about it in interview training.

ams6110 8y ago
Did you ever need to provide a resume/CV? If so were you honest about your education? Did you just omit it?
- ergothus 8y ago
  Not the above poster, but for me - I omit my degree from my resume, because in my mind it was so long ago as to be irrelevant. It's also a bit odd - I have a degree in "Letters, Arts, and Science" - a make-your-own major from Penn State. My last two jobs the recruiters asked me if I had a degree - this came up AFTER they had decided to interview me and when they were entering me in to the system - the degree was just a field to fill in. I can't say what impact having a degree has had on my salary, and I can't say how hard it would be to get those first couple of years of work experience without a degree (it didn't matter for my first job, but that was 19 years ago), but in terms of applying for jobs once you have experience, I've not seen it matter outside of a few jobs that inexplicably require "a" degree (of any kind). Several of my friends in the field don't have a college degree, and they appear to be functioning well, but they are also painfully aware of the lack, which tells me it's a source of some stress, be that actual or just hypothetical.
  - alistairSH 8y ago
    Even better... My wife has a Master of Science, but not an undergraduate degree. That literally makes recruiters and hiring managers do double-takes.
    - monocasa 8y ago
      Where did she get it? I've been trying to find a decent college that'd allow me to do the same thing.
      - alistairSH 8y ago
        American University in DC. She completed the AU/NTL MSOD program. Not sure if they’ll do that for other programs. It took her a while to find the program. Most wanted an BA/BS first.
      - barry-cotter 8y ago
        Oxford’s M.Sc. Software Engineering will accept applicants with enough work experience in lieu of a Bachelor’s. Several of the University of London’s constituent colleges offer individual courses from Master’s degrees as individual professional awards or short courses (nomenclature varies) and successful performance will get you admitted to the Master’s proper. If you see a Master’s from U London and it doesn’t explicitly say it’s available to study independently as a short course you can still email them to inquire. Oxford M.Sc. Computer Science https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-software-engineering?wssl=1 https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-softwar... SOAS Finance https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-software-engineering?wssl=1 https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-softwar... London School of Tropical Medicine, Clinical Trials https://london.ac.uk/courses/clinical-trials#entry-requirements https://london.ac.uk/courses/clinical-trials#entry-requireme... Queen Mary University of London, MBA https://london.ac.uk/courses/global-mba https://london.ac.uk/courses/global-mba Ll.M. https://london.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-laws-llm https://london.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-laws-llm
  - bobwaycott 8y ago
    I’ve been doing the same (omitting my degree). I really don’t know that mentioning my history degree with minors in French and philosophy are all that informative compared to just talking about what all I’ve done in the last 12 years as a full-time software professional.
    - bitdeveloper 8y ago
      In fact, mentioning a History degree might make someone doubt your ability to keep your code DRY...
- bluedino 8y ago
  I've had companies ask for high school transcripts. What the heck.
  - purple_ducks 8y ago
    That sounds like HR in those companies had way too much power.
  - cm2012 8y ago
    I would walk away if I was asked for it, even though my grades were good. That's BS.
  - bobwaycott 8y ago
    That’s hilarious to me. I could maybe understand if an applicant graduated a year or two ago, and wasn’t in college. But for someone who graduated 20+ years ago? Come on.
  - djeikyb 8y ago
    me too! got an offer, then the background check company flagged my claim to a high school diploma. they asked me to provide official transcripts. hr threw its hands up. this was in june. turns out the district was overwhelmed with the year end work of graduations and such, and just shut off the phones for a couple weeks. luckily i had family working for the district and got a suitable copy. absurd.
- mquander 8y ago
  I have no degree, I've done probably 25 tech interviews so far in my career, and I don't recall it having ever come up. I write "No formal post-secondary education" under the "education" section on my resume.
jammygit 8y ago
I envy you. University was not fun for me, and everything I know how to do was from skipping class.

ams6110 8y ago

Did you ever need to provide a resume/CV? If so were you honest about your education? Did you just omit it?

ergothus 8y ago
Not the above poster, but for me - I omit my degree from my resume, because in my mind it was so long ago as to be irrelevant. It's also a bit odd - I have a degree in "Letters, Arts, and Science" - a make-your-own major from Penn State. My last two jobs the recruiters asked me if I had a degree - this came up AFTER they had decided to interview me and when they were entering me in to the system - the degree was just a field to fill in. I can't say what impact having a degree has had on my salary, and I can't say how hard it would be to get those first couple of years of work experience without a degree (it didn't matter for my first job, but that was 19 years ago), but in terms of applying for jobs once you have experience, I've not seen it matter outside of a few jobs that inexplicably require "a" degree (of any kind). Several of my friends in the field don't have a college degree, and they appear to be functioning well, but they are also painfully aware of the lack, which tells me it's a source of some stress, be that actual or just hypothetical.
- alistairSH 8y ago
  Even better... My wife has a Master of Science, but not an undergraduate degree. That literally makes recruiters and hiring managers do double-takes.
  - monocasa 8y ago
    Where did she get it? I've been trying to find a decent college that'd allow me to do the same thing.
    - alistairSH 8y ago
      American University in DC. She completed the AU/NTL MSOD program. Not sure if they’ll do that for other programs. It took her a while to find the program. Most wanted an BA/BS first.
    - barry-cotter 8y ago
      Oxford’s M.Sc. Software Engineering will accept applicants with enough work experience in lieu of a Bachelor’s. Several of the University of London’s constituent colleges offer individual courses from Master’s degrees as individual professional awards or short courses (nomenclature varies) and successful performance will get you admitted to the Master’s proper. If you see a Master’s from U London and it doesn’t explicitly say it’s available to study independently as a short course you can still email them to inquire. Oxford M.Sc. Computer Science https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-software-engineering?wssl=1 https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-softwar... SOAS Finance https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-software-engineering?wssl=1 https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/msc-softwar... London School of Tropical Medicine, Clinical Trials https://london.ac.uk/courses/clinical-trials#entry-requirements https://london.ac.uk/courses/clinical-trials#entry-requireme... Queen Mary University of London, MBA https://london.ac.uk/courses/global-mba https://london.ac.uk/courses/global-mba Ll.M. https://london.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-laws-llm https://london.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-laws-llm
- bobwaycott 8y ago
  I’ve been doing the same (omitting my degree). I really don’t know that mentioning my history degree with minors in French and philosophy are all that informative compared to just talking about what all I’ve done in the last 12 years as a full-time software professional.
  - bitdeveloper 8y ago
    In fact, mentioning a History degree might make someone doubt your ability to keep your code DRY...
bluedino 8y ago
I've had companies ask for high school transcripts. What the heck.
- purple_ducks 8y ago
  That sounds like HR in those companies had way too much power.
- cm2012 8y ago
  I would walk away if I was asked for it, even though my grades were good. That's BS.
- bobwaycott 8y ago
  That’s hilarious to me. I could maybe understand if an applicant graduated a year or two ago, and wasn’t in college. But for someone who graduated 20+ years ago? Come on.
- djeikyb 8y ago
  me too! got an offer, then the background check company flagged my claim to a high school diploma. they asked me to provide official transcripts. hr threw its hands up. this was in june. turns out the district was overwhelmed with the year end work of graduations and such, and just shut off the phones for a couple weeks. luckily i had family working for the district and got a suitable copy. absurd.
mquander 8y ago
I have no degree, I've done probably 25 tech interviews so far in my career, and I don't recall it having ever come up. I write "No formal post-secondary education" under the "education" section on my resume.

jammygit 8y ago

I envy you. University was not fun for me, and everything I know how to do was from skipping class.