Why More Tech Companies Are Hiring People Without Degrees (fastcompany.com)

An anonymous reader writes: According to a recent article on Fast Company, tech companies are looking to hire people without degrees. From the report: "For years, the tech pipeline has been fed mostly from the same elite universities. This has created a feedback loop of talent and a largely homogenous workplace. As a result, tech continues to stumble when it comes to diversity. The technology industry is now trying to figure out a way to attack its cultural and demographic homogeneity issues. One simple initiative is to begin to recruit talent from people outside of its preferred networks. One way is to extend their recruiting efforts to people who don't have four-year degrees. The technology industry is now trying to figure out a way to attack its cultural and demographic homogeneity issues. One simple initiative is to begin to recruit talent from people outside of its preferred networks. One way is to extend their recruiting efforts to people who don't have four-year degrees. IBM's head of talent organization, Sam Ladah, calls this sort of initiative a focus on 'new-collar jobs.' The idea, he says, is to look toward different applicant pools to find new talent. 'We consider them based on their skills,' he says, and don't take into account their educational background. This includes applicants who didn't get a four-year degree but have proven their technical knowledge in other ways. Some have technical certifications, and others have enrolled in other skills programs. 'We've been very successful in hiring from [coding] bootcamps,' says Ladah. Intel has also been looking to find talent from other educational avenues. One program gave people either enrolled in or recently graduated from community colleges internships with the company. Similarly, the company has been trying to get a foothold in high schools by funding initiatives to boost computer science curricula for both the Oakland Unified School District and an Arizona-based high-school oriented program called Next Generation of Native American Coders. Intel, for example, invests in the program CODE 2040, which aims to build pathways for underrepresented minority youth to enter the technology space. Likewise, GitHub has partnered with coding-focused enrichment programs like Operation Code, Hackbright, and Code Tenderloin."

Comments

Re:About 20-30 years too late on this one

[bluefoxlucid]

The problem is "passionate nerds" are basically people who write things like XML::Bare; the folks who write actual useful shit are both interested in their field and well-trained, either by a college education or by an independent formal study. The people living the delusion that the best tech workers are self-trained all think they're programmers because they've read the PHP documentation online and gotten Apache to belch out a Web page; they typically disdain books and formal practices because "it's all obvious if you've got actual talent" and prattle on about how programming is a specific genetic trait you're born with.

Re:I think someone without a degree wrote that sum

[Applehu Akbar]

Diversity is a mandate now, so HR departments have to pay homage to the idea. None dare call it quotas.

"For years, the tech pipeline has been fed mostly from the same elite universities. This has created a feedback loop of talent and a largely homogenous workplace."

That's odd. I thought that if your college application included a bio about being a minority abused child who evacuated refugees from Syria using your own homemade soapbox racer, the Ivy League schools would be fighting over you.