Degree required for career in development?

[Raithlin]

Over the past few weeks we've seen a few threads starting up with the question of how to get started in development. Well, for those interested parties, I found this rather interesting look at dev jobs, and the requirements thereof.

Do You REALLY Need a College Degree to Get a Programming Job?

Excerpt follows:

As one correspondent, John M, explained eloquently, "The drop-dead killer programmers you want on your team, as likely as not, were not CompSci or Software Engineering majors. They're doing programming because they like to do programming. They're intrinsically interested in communicating with the machine, and what they can get the machine to do. The college kids you interview are in Comp Sci or Software Engineering because they think they'll earn big bucks. That's why Joel Spolsky insists that any job interview should include asking the candidate to write code. I've had Dean's List students from major engineering schools who couldn't solve a simple problem — and couldn't be coached into figuring out what to do. I have a young man working for me now who majored in Music Composition who rolled his eyes at the problem and said, "You probably don't want to do it that way—the new LINQ to XML tools make it easier...."

 

[semaphore]

Over the past few weeks we've seen a few threads starting up with the question of how to get started in development. Well, for those interested parties, I found this rather interesting look at dev jobs, and the requirements thereof.

Do You REALLY Need a College Degree to Get a Programming Job?

Excerpt follows:

Yes and then go to that same person who solved the simple microshaft issue and ask him to do complex matrix calculations.

 

[Raithlin]

Yes and then go to that same person who solved the simple microshaft issue and ask him to do complex matrix calculations.

The article mentions that if a specific requirement is necessary (such as math), the company should advertise that requirement. After all, having a degree in Comp. Sci. doesn't automatically mean that I did Math (I haven't).

 

[Smooth Criminal]

You guys should read Joel Spolsky's blog when you have some free time. He makes some really good points, and it's sometimes entertaining given his style of writing.

 

[semaphore]

The article mentions that if a specific requirement is necessary (such as math), the company should advertise that requirement. After all, having a degree in Comp. Sci. doesn't automatically mean that I did Math (I haven't).

Then the article shouldn't interview comp sci students who don't use trivial rubbish like LINQ in there course work.

Generally most comp sci students take math

 

[Raithlin]

semaphore, with due respect, go read the article before commenting. It is an interesting read, and you will find yourself agreeing with the author. I didn't say one shouldn't study - I am completing a qualification this year, despite (or maybe because of) having 10 years experience in my chosen field. However, the fact remains: in 10 years, I have not once had to create/solve a complex mathematical equation. Not that it doesn't happen - but as a web developer I haven't needed to. For the record, the comp sci student couldn't solve the problem at hand - it was the music major that suggested LINQ as an alternative (and better?) solution. Go figure.

@Smooth Criminal: I used to subscribe to Joel's blog, but he became a little too blase and wayward for my taste.

 

[FarligOpptreden]

Not having time to read the article right now, I would still like to comment on the topic. We recently interviewed a developer who hasn't done a degree yet. After spending some time in conversation with the developer, it became apparent that the guy is a programmer at heart. He has had a keen interest in programming for many years now, since high-school. To "up" his worth and desirability, he completed an MCSD a few years ago, but that's about as far as his "formal" qualifications go.

The bottom line is that this guy has more knowledge and skill in programming that many university graduates have that we've interviewed over the past couple of years. I would however state that a degree gives you a solid foundation in software development methodologies and techniques if you're fresh out of school. You would gain preference above the guy who's just done a crash-course in programming and is looking for his first job.

 

[Veroland]

semaphore, with due respect, go read the article before commenting. It is an interesting read, and you will find yourself agreeing with the author. I didn't say one shouldn't study - I am completing a qualification this year, despite (or maybe because of) having 10 years experience in my chosen field. However, the fact remains: in 10 years, I have not once had to create/solve a complex mathematical equation. Not that it doesn't happen - but as a web developer I haven't needed to. For the record, the comp sci student couldn't solve the problem at hand - it was the music major that suggested LINQ as an alternative (and better?) solution. Go figure.

@Smooth Criminal: I used to subscribe to Joel's blog, but he became a little too blase and wayward for my taste.

Very good article. I have around 13 years experiance as a developer and a number of qualifications, however, when I used to still study stuff like the linux professor telling me that "Multi tasking" and "Multi processing" is the same thing and ending the argument off with "I'm the lecturer, I'm right" it got a bit much for me.

As for the maths issue, I see it in almost the same light as bitwise operators, every single bloody test hammers on it, but in the real world I have only used it once for a temp scrambling algorithm while we were trying to get the proper encryption working.