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I don't have a degree and it hasn't caused me any problems getting coding jobs in silicon valley. It never even came up. My jobs have mostly been at startups,

I don't have a degree and it hasn't caused me any problems getting coding jobs in silicon valley. It never even came up. My jobs have mostly been at startups, so maybe it is an uphill battle at big corporations like you mentioned, but I'd be surprised if lack of degree was a sticking point for a talented coder trying for a job at Apple/Google/Facebook.

everdev 7y ago
I've hired dozens of programmers and never once looked at what college they went to or if they went to college (or where they live, just what time zone they're in). In web/app coding, all that matters is what you've done in the last 1-4 years. Anything beyond that is too dated to be relevant. It's been a highly successful recruiting practice. There are so many brilliant self taught developers that would get overlooked if I only looked at college graduates.
- scarface74 7y ago
  But how can you possibly be a good developer if you don’t know how to invert a binary tree?
  - everdev 7y ago
    Or know how to quick sort in C?
    - scarface74 7y ago
      Well that’s different since qsort() is part of the standard library.... Yes, for the pedantic I know whether qsort() actually implements the quicksort algorithm is implementation defined.
      - everdev 7y ago
        Lol, didn't know that. We had to write it ourselves in high school.
Mc91 7y ago
> I'd be surprised if lack of degree was a sticking point for a talented coder trying for a job at Apple/Google/Facebook Google contacted me for a position years ago. I later found out they hire only 1 of 1000 applicants. I talked to the recruiter (before I went back to college) and she said most Google programmers not only have Bachelors, many of them had masters degrees and doctorates. One of the questions involved context switches. I never even heard of context switches again until I went back to school and took my computer organization and architecture class. > any problems getting coding jobs in silicon valley. It never even came up. I have been working in IT professionally for over 20 years. Read about what was happening in 2000-2001. In a scenario like that, when startups are going bust, are not being funded, the economy is in a recession and many programmers are employed, having a Bachelors that can get you into a Fortune 500 company that requires it helps. Also - although I have met CS graduates who can not code, most of the "talented coders" I have met have a college degree. I can count on one hand the ones I can think of who are not (and I include on my hand John Carmack, who I don't even know, but I know he is a talented programmer with a college degree).
shaftway 7y ago
I'm at Google. I don't have a degree. It came up once with the recruiter, and then only because I brought it up. It's generally a non-issue.

everdev 7y ago

I've hired dozens of programmers and never once looked at what college they went to or if they went to college (or where they live, just what time zone they're in). In web/app coding, all that matters is what you've done in the last 1-4 years. Anything beyond that is too dated to be relevant. It's been a highly successful recruiting practice. There are so many brilliant self taught developers that would get overlooked if I only looked at college graduates.

scarface74 7y ago
But how can you possibly be a good developer if you don’t know how to invert a binary tree?
- everdev 7y ago
  Or know how to quick sort in C?
  - scarface74 7y ago
    Well that’s different since qsort() is part of the standard library.... Yes, for the pedantic I know whether qsort() actually implements the quicksort algorithm is implementation defined.
    - everdev 7y ago
      Lol, didn't know that. We had to write it ourselves in high school.

Mc91 7y ago

> I'd be surprised if lack of degree was a sticking point for a talented coder trying for a job at Apple/Google/Facebook Google contacted me for a position years ago. I later found out they hire only 1 of 1000 applicants. I talked to the recruiter (before I went back to college) and she said most Google programmers not only have Bachelors, many of them had masters degrees and doctorates. One of the questions involved context switches. I never even heard of context switches again until I went back to school and took my computer organization and architecture class. > any problems getting coding jobs in silicon valley. It never even came up. I have been working in IT professionally for over 20 years. Read about what was happening in 2000-2001. In a scenario like that, when startups are going bust, are not being funded, the economy is in a recession and many programmers are employed, having a Bachelors that can get you into a Fortune 500 company that requires it helps. Also - although I have met CS graduates who can not code, most of the "talented coders" I have met have a college degree. I can count on one hand the ones I can think of who are not (and I include on my hand John Carmack, who I don't even know, but I know he is a talented programmer with a college degree).

shaftway 7y ago

I'm at Google. I don't have a degree. It came up once with the recruiter, and then only because I brought it up. It's generally a non-issue.