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My academic background from Engineering was in Electrical Engineering, so very much a "traditional" background, i.e where most firms hiring were rather old and

My academic background from Engineering was in Electrical Engineering, so very much a "traditional" background, i.e where most firms hiring were rather old and stodgy, compared to modern high-tech SV companies. The reputable firms usually had a more or less firm cut-off around 3.0, while smaller firms were more lenient. Most reputable finance and consulting firms wouldn't even look at your CV unless you had a 3.5 I think CS firms are more forgiving, and care less about credentialism. Obviously you'll have some, but if you're a kick-ass developer with a portfolio to show, most companies are willing to take a look. I think a lot of firms understand that they're missing out on excellent non-traditional hires, because HR and old hiring practices have been gatekeeping them away. Microsoft was the first big tech firm I ever spoke with, and interviewed for, and they said that as long as you had taken at least one class in data structures, you were welcome to the interview - didn't mater if you had studied history or CS.

yardie 7y ago
That is reassuring coming from Microsoft. It sets a benchmark that other F500s can use. I didn’t have what it took to be a MechE. I did use my extracurricular activities to get into web dev. Starting with flash, action script and JavaScript. Of all my friends who graduated as engineers half are in IT or software engineering at this point. There traditional engineering careers were awe fully short for the amount of effort put in.
trashcan 7y ago
When I spoke to Microsoft (circa 2004), they said I needed a bachelor's degree from a respected college like UW, or relevant job experience to even apply. I was attending a community college at the time so I volunteered to work at a tech company for free, and ended up making that a career. Maybe things have changed but I was very disappointed. (If academic performance is relevant I had a GPA equivalent of 4.0 or 3.6 depending on how it was measured, about a 96% average across my classes)

yardie 7y ago

That is reassuring coming from Microsoft. It sets a benchmark that other F500s can use. I didn’t have what it took to be a MechE. I did use my extracurricular activities to get into web dev. Starting with flash, action script and JavaScript. Of all my friends who graduated as engineers half are in IT or software engineering at this point. There traditional engineering careers were awe fully short for the amount of effort put in.

trashcan 7y ago

When I spoke to Microsoft (circa 2004), they said I needed a bachelor's degree from a respected college like UW, or relevant job experience to even apply. I was attending a community college at the time so I volunteered to work at a tech company for free, and ended up making that a career. Maybe things have changed but I was very disappointed. (If academic performance is relevant I had a GPA equivalent of 4.0 or 3.6 depending on how it was measured, about a 96% average across my classes)