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Google, Apple and 13 Other Companies That No Longer Require Employees To Have a College Degree (cnbc.com)
The economy continues to be a friendly place for job seekers today, and not just for the ultra-educated -- economists are predicting ever-improving prospects for workers without a degree as well. From a report: Recently, job-search site Glassdoor compiled a list of 15 top employers that have said they no longer require applicants to have a college degree. Companies like Google, Apple, IBM and EY are all in this group. In 2017, IBM's vice president of talent Joanna Daley told CNBC Make It that about 15 percent of her company's U.S. hires don't have a four-year degree. She said that instead of looking exclusively at candidates who went to college, IBM now looks at candidates who have hands-on experience via a coding boot camp or an industry-related vocational class.
I've had a 20 year career without a degree. Most employers don't really care, and the ones that do aren't much worth working for. It's a bit of a red flag if you care about a check mark (in what could be a completely unrelated field) over actual experience.
In my experience, many people who have a degree in computer science are worse coders because they are taught that there is a specific way to do something rather then being able to creatively solve problems.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I've found the exact opposite. People with degrees not only are faster at picking up new things, they have more exposure to different paradigms and can adapt more easily, their critical thinking skills are better...
And most importantly, they learn best practices that help them avoid pitfalls down the road.
Although I have to ask... what do you mean by 'creatively solve problems'? I've seen a lot of code that was 'creative'. Typically it's been the worst, most unmaintainable code I've had to deal with. WAY too may people think that once they've solved the immediate problem at hand, they're done. That's not how software works.
The Y2K event should have demonstrated very clearly that code you write will be around for MUCH longer than you think, and somebody has to maintain that code. I don't want creatively solved problems. I want boringly solved problems with obvious, self-describing code that can be easily updated later on.
My day job is cleaning up after 'educated' programmers.
Some individuals have the ability to design elegant solutions. Comp-Sci degree plans can be passed without those abilities, and the skills can be learned outside of a classroom.
The gist is that degrees have been used as an indicator of coder quality and it's a very poor tool for that.