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Do programmers need a Computer Science degree to get a job?

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Yea and No!! Let’s see how
Few years ago, there was a vogue that a college degree was the best way to maximize the likelihood of securing a high-paying job in the field of your choice. But the world has changed, you can easily hear of successful developers who never earned a degree, or college dropouts who made it big in Silicon Valley.

If you want to be a Doctor, you’re almost certainly going to need a Medical (or related) degree. But for technical jobs, a technical degree is a nice addition, not a necessity anymore. What matters to many employers now-a-days is your attitude, logical thinking, curiosity and willingness to learn as a technical candidate.

Let us now compare the scenarios..

Without Computer Science (or any) College Degree

There are many examples of tech pros don’t have the “appropriate” degrees. Some of the tech industry’s leading figures-including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Azim Premji — dropped out of college well before obtaining a degree.

Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates are perfect examples of software engineers who are successful without having a degree in computer science.

The role of a “Software Engineer” does not necessarily require a degree in Computer Science. However, since Yahoo’s Chief Executive Scott Thompson was stepping down recently due to a fake computer science college degree, it has been a point of discussion if someone needs a university degree or not.

However, A degree might not be enough!!
Let us now concentrate on the other side of the coin.

With Computer Science (or other) College Degree

A degree is not pointless, because the college experience is about much more than just getting a job when you graduate. There are many reasons why you might want to pursue a college degree, even if you don’t need one to get the job after completion of the degree.

Majority of computer programmers have a bachelor’s degree. A Computer Science education has its own boons, but real-world programming practically includes a broad array of skills that no one person can master.

Benefits of Computer Science Degree:
There are many companies that might not give you a chance without a Computer Science degree, but some companies can give you a chance if you’re referred by an trusted employee.

Reasons to earn a computer science degree:

  • Computer science graduates earn higher salaries.
  • Computer science majors have more job prospects (limitless future opportunities).
  • Computer science grads join a fast growing industry (strengthening your primary career choice).
  • Computer science degree holders work in a wide range of industries.

Conclusion

There is no need to join college for degree if you feel too late. Just improve your skills and learn practical skills in web or mobile development, front end, databases, and some infrastructure. You can use competitive programming to excel in the field and applying directly to companies off-campus. Also learn the stuff to pass the test and interviews. You need to be very passionate about programming, active in the community and have the same depth and breadth of knowledge as a CS graduate (easier than it sounds).

Absolutely you can get a job without a degree. It might be little bit tough path, if you are not passionate and self motivated. The great thing about technical field is that it’s one of the few places that it is very open minded about hiring.

Also, if you are passionate programmer/geek, then you can also became Google/IBM engineer without a computer science degree. But you should have sufficient work experience, or at least being a bit famous in the field of Programming and being self-taught well enough to understand very basics of CS like what’s meant by O(log2(n)) and O(1) and O(n) and O(n^2). If you know the difference between a hash table, a trie, and a B-tree, and how to balance the latter and make a perfect version of the former, you must be good enough to go!!

Note : The views expressed in the blog are perfectly mine and may vary with other geeks(which is absolutely fine I guess :)).


Last Updated : 15 Jul, 2019
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