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If you don’t have a college degree your choices of companies who are willing to even talk to you for a well paying job is very small.

malvosenior 7y ago
This is definitely not true (source, myself -- sans degree). You have to do something though. Github, community projects, start a small business... University takes an incredible amount of time and money. If people put their resources into more independent endeavours, they'd certainly see a return on the investment greater than most college degrees. If you've done something interesting (and really having a degree isn't all that interesting), then large companies will be happy to talk to you.
- SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
  You're only thinking of development, which is still a bit of the wild west when it comes to figuring out who does what.
  - malvosenior 7y ago
    Not true, it works for any field where you can show a "portfolio". I've seen designers, craftspeople.. all capitalize on this method.
- maxxxxx 7y ago
  When I was 18 i could not have figured out how to approach this. And i had nobody who could have told me what to do. Getting a degree is still the safe option. In addition at least in The big companies I know having no degree is pretty much a showstopper. You simply won’t get an interview
  - malvosenior 7y ago
    When I was 18 I also had nobody who told me to do this. I figured it out on my own (something I think all 18 year olds are actually capable of). Any giant tech company will all happily interview you if you have a good portfolio without a degree. All of this takes work of course, but not more work than getting a degree. It does take a lot of independent thought and strength to do what you think is right even when others are telling you it's wrong though.
    - maxxxxx 7y ago
      I guess you were way ahead at the age of 18. I had no clue how the workplace works so I got a degree which then got me started. For me that was a good decision.
      - malvosenior 7y ago
        Helping to educate young people about their options and inoculate them against mainstream marketing (overt and covert), would help give people other routes than taking on massive debt. That in itself is a massive business transaction so it's probably best for people to understand how the labor market works before committing so much time and money to a decision they may later regret.

malvosenior 7y ago

This is definitely not true (source, myself -- sans degree). You have to do something though. Github, community projects, start a small business... University takes an incredible amount of time and money. If people put their resources into more independent endeavours, they'd certainly see a return on the investment greater than most college degrees. If you've done something interesting (and really having a degree isn't all that interesting), then large companies will be happy to talk to you.

SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
You're only thinking of development, which is still a bit of the wild west when it comes to figuring out who does what.
- malvosenior 7y ago
  Not true, it works for any field where you can show a "portfolio". I've seen designers, craftspeople.. all capitalize on this method.
maxxxxx 7y ago
When I was 18 i could not have figured out how to approach this. And i had nobody who could have told me what to do. Getting a degree is still the safe option. In addition at least in The big companies I know having no degree is pretty much a showstopper. You simply won’t get an interview
- malvosenior 7y ago
  When I was 18 I also had nobody who told me to do this. I figured it out on my own (something I think all 18 year olds are actually capable of). Any giant tech company will all happily interview you if you have a good portfolio without a degree. All of this takes work of course, but not more work than getting a degree. It does take a lot of independent thought and strength to do what you think is right even when others are telling you it's wrong though.
  - maxxxxx 7y ago
    I guess you were way ahead at the age of 18. I had no clue how the workplace works so I got a degree which then got me started. For me that was a good decision.
    - malvosenior 7y ago
      Helping to educate young people about their options and inoculate them against mainstream marketing (overt and covert), would help give people other routes than taking on massive debt. That in itself is a massive business transaction so it's probably best for people to understand how the labor market works before committing so much time and money to a decision they may later regret.