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Is it hard to get a job for a programmer without having bachelors degree? I'm not interested in education just this "paper" which as some people said greatly impacts CV and employer will only accept programmers which have degrees, even if other one without bachelors has much bigger experience.

I graduate soon and don't know which way to go, I learn coding on my own but I some people said that I'll need to graduate exactly on CS or IT to get a job.

And is it very important for employer which degree you have or which Faculty have you completed? I mean what will employer look at "Faculty of Computer Science" or "Degree In Computing".

Should I search exactly for "Bachelor's in CS" or the title of faculty is enough? I'm interested only in title of bachelors which I'll receive... I know I won't get any special education and I should raise my skills on my own. I want to become WEB developer and work on APPs as well. So which bachelor fits the most for this to get employed?Is degree in "Informatics" or "Computing" enough?

BTW I live in europe and how will US employers look at these degrees? I know experience is the most valued thing in this field,but as I've heard companies simply "filter" people who have no degrees and I don't want to get in this filter. Thanks for your help.

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closed as unclear what you're asking by enderland, IDrinkandIKnowThings, CMW, jcmeloni, Rhys Feb 21 '14 at 19:21

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I'm going to answer what I think you've asked, "how difficult is it to get a programming job without a Computing degree".

The answer is "It depends"

I've been in the industry for 20 years, I have no degree (in anything, let alone cs), I've got to the point where I am almost as high as I can go without becoming purely a manager (I am a senior manager, but I'm lucky to have a role that still requires development skills, mainly tech authority).

When I got into the industry, in the nineties, it was a boom time, so I managed to get a job on my abilities at the tech interview (I had been coding myself for years when I tried to make a career of it).

But enough background, onto answer.

  • There will be employers who want a CS related degree, and you will probably not even get to interview with them, even if you have all the skills they want.

  • There will be employers who will simply care that you have "a degree", the proximity to CS may affect how they choose, but you have a good chance of getting to interview.

  • There will be employers who look at your relevant skills and CV, and may not even ask.

It does get easier as you gain experience, but you may need to start in a sub-ideal role to get the experience.

This can be affected by the market/economy, and as above there are some who will never be interested without the CS diploma (I spoke to a company a couple of years ago, they contacted me within 5 mins of sending my cv for a very senior role, interest dropped as soon as I had to answer the "what degree did you do, can't see it on your cv?", only 20 years on).

There is also a move to bring back an apprenticeship model (at least in the UK/Europe, can't speak for the States), a number of people are now looking at spending years in debt for a degree, and wondering how to avoid it, and some far-sighted employers are embracing the idea, so that may be a good thing longer term (or bad, you may be competing with 16yr olds for entry level jobs as a graduate!).

The winning thing can be experience, so get involved in things like Stackoverflow, Git commits in OSS projects, they can count towards experience if you don't have the degree. Think about how your coding can pass the Joel tests, these things count in a number of industries.

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    Generally speaking, large companies care more about degrees/credentials than smaller shops. – James Adam Feb 21 '14 at 17:26
  • Strangely enough my experience has been the opposite, biggest company I worked for (131000 staff) never asked anything about degree to me, or anyone I was involved in interviewing, company that wouldn't interview had about 50 staff. – The Wandering Dev Manager Feb 21 '14 at 17:50
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    Great answer, I would add that this depends widely on where you are applying. For example, in the Middle East having a degree counts for a lot, and experience comes second. This has the opposite effect - you get to interview people with a ton of degrees (these are the ones sent up by HR as per their screening process), but in reality they have no experience in the field, and this I found to be especially true for computer science. Conversely we have to fight to get these good candidates approved when their degree doesn't fit the profile. – Burhan Khalid Feb 21 '14 at 19:23
  • US employers look for degrees because it is illegal to use any employment screening test that might have a racial bias (1971 Supreme Court case). So, now we know why college has become indispensable, and unaffordable. – user37746 Jul 27 '16 at 19:46
  • "I've got to the point where I am almost as high as I can go without becoming purely a manager" -- FYI, big tech in the US has an "individual contributor" career track so that you don't run into this situation. – Brian Gordon Mar 25 at 15:35

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