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It mattered a lot to my first job, after that almost not at all. I didn't get callbacks from some very conservative companies, and that may be the reason - but

by eloff 7y ago

It mattered a lot to my first job, after that almost not at all. I didn't get callbacks from some very conservative companies, and that may be the reason - but those weren't great places to work anyway - so I can't say that it hurt me at all. Sample size of 1 mind you.

Groxx 7y ago
Very much the same here. First job is harder, but demonstrate ability and no recruiter has ever asked since. School is essentially trash for demonstrating "can program in a business environment". If you're aiming for a research-heavy position it may help, but that's an extreme minority of jobs. And after a couple years it's useless again anyway - you're either continuing your self-education and improving, or you're stagnant, and your prior education doesn't play all that much of a role.
tristor 7y ago
Same here, I did some contracting to start my career as it was less credential-dependent than FTE. After showing what I could do for a few years, nobody has ever concerned themselves with my lack of degree since. I've literally spent my whole life studying computers (my dad is a geek so I started at 4 years old), so college was meaningless. Most of my classes I either already knew the subject matter beforehand or knew more about the subject matter than the instructor, so I dropped out. Most of the information is available for free online or in a library if you're self-motivated enough to learn. There are some people who definitely benefit from structured learning environments, so I don't ever try to dissuade people from going to college. Rather, I try to get everyone to just start building stuff and releasing it open source and contributing to open source as soon as they can. If you can learn how to search effectively, read documentation effectively, and program proficiently in at least one language you don't really need college.

by eloff 7y ago

Groxx 7y ago

Very much the same here. First job is harder, but demonstrate ability and no recruiter has ever asked since. School is essentially trash for demonstrating "can program in a business environment". If you're aiming for a research-heavy position it may help, but that's an extreme minority of jobs. And after a couple years it's useless again anyway - you're either continuing your self-education and improving, or you're stagnant, and your prior education doesn't play all that much of a role.

tristor 7y ago

Same here, I did some contracting to start my career as it was less credential-dependent than FTE. After showing what I could do for a few years, nobody has ever concerned themselves with my lack of degree since. I've literally spent my whole life studying computers (my dad is a geek so I started at 4 years old), so college was meaningless. Most of my classes I either already knew the subject matter beforehand or knew more about the subject matter than the instructor, so I dropped out. Most of the information is available for free online or in a library if you're self-motivated enough to learn. There are some people who definitely benefit from structured learning environments, so I don't ever try to dissuade people from going to college. Rather, I try to get everyone to just start building stuff and releasing it open source and contributing to open source as soon as they can. If you can learn how to search effectively, read documentation effectively, and program proficiently in at least one language you don't really need college.