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Ask Slashdot: Finding an IT Job Without a Computer-Oriented Undergraduate Degree

Posted by samzenpus on from the not-worth-the-paper-it-was-printed-on dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Contrary to what many individuals think, not everybody on Slashdot went to college for a computer-related degree. Graduating in May of this year, my undergraduate degree will be in psychology. Like many undergraduate psychology students, I applied to a multitude of graduate programs but, unfortunately, was not given admission into a single one. Many are aware that a bachelor's degree in psychology is quite limiting, so I undoubtedly have been forced into a complicated situation. Despite my degree being in psychology, I have an immense interest in computers and the typical 'hard science' fields. How can one with a degree that is not related to computers acquire a job that is centered around computers? At the moment, I am self-taught and can easily keep up in a conversation of computer science majors. I also do a decent amount of programming in C, Perl, and Python and have contributed to small open source projects. Would Slashdot users recommend receiving a formal computer science education (only about two years, since the nonsensical general education requirements are already completed) before attempting to get such a job? Anybody else in a similar situation?"

3 of 504 comments (clear)

  1. Not really needed by jhaygood86 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I dropped out of college (was in the CS program, but barely completed the early requirements), and I have a really good gig as a senior software developer. It takes a bit more to get your feet in, but in general, most places I've seen could care less about the degree if you can get the work done.

    1. Re:Not really needed by houstonbofh · · Score: 5, Informative

      With this experience you can get good hands on tech jobs, but with no degree, you will hit a ceiling. If you want to go into management, it does not matter what the degree is as long as you have one. And that was serious, not a Dilbertism... Unfortunately.

  2. Re:Yes by rwa2 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I've known plenty of people in IT without CS degrees, including English majors. They're great co-workers and seem quite happy getting things like technical documentation and training, which companies always need to handle their attrition, and are a hella more respected than the phone support / QA "infantry".

    You might want to look into getting some technical certs to help get your foot in the door... just look at what kinds of requirements some of your job reqs have and invest in some of those certs. You could likely cinch one in maybe a month of cramming with a study guide and an exam for a few hundred $$. If you have a couple thousand to invest, you could even do one of those 1-2 week-long prep courses and get it done faster.

    Preferably once you have a nice job, they would be happy to help put you through further certs and degree programs to strengthen their workforce (and your credentials), so try to take advantage of that situation.