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Get a four year college degree in Computer Science or related field. If it is too expensive to do it in the US, try to move to another country where it is cheap
by thro1237 12y ago
Get a four year college degree in Computer Science or related field. If it is too expensive to do it in the US, try to move to another country where it is cheaper with reasonable quality. I believe you are a decent programmer -- but it is very difficult to go past the HR screens of many companies without that degree. You might have ideological disagreements with the way the world works, but as you grow older, unless you are extremely luck or brilliant or both, this hurdle will stare at your face too many times. And being in college will also give you time to hone up your real skills.
- pedalpete 12y agoI'm going to completely disagree with this, particularly as the OP has stated he doesn't have a high-school degree, so a college degree is likely out of reach. I don't have a university degree, and the only times that has stopped me in an interview process is places that I likely wouldn't have wanted to work anyway. Even Google, which prefers people to have a university degree, will make an exception if they see you've got the experience and capability. This is speaking from experience, though I dropped out of the Google interview process as I needed a visa in shorter amount of time than they were going to take in making a hiring decision.
- thro1237 12y agoWe are not disagreeing at all. I agree that if you are extremely lucky or you can prove your brilliance in other ways, then you don't need a degree. But if you are not in a position to do either of this (which I assume OP is), the easiest way to bump up your chances of getting hired is to get a 4 year degree. As you say, getting hired into google without a degree is an exception -- not the rule. If the OP can somehow sustain himself while getting a 4 year degree, I would advice doing that.