IT Job Seeker GPA

[Gomez458]

Apologies if the Thread title is a bit off.

Hey BB community, I am about to complete my undergraduate computer science degree, and I am very excited to enter the 'Real World' in the Information Technology Industry.
However, I wanted to know if South African Employees, especially those hiring IT guys (software, database developers and system analysts) really care about gpa.

Gomez Phiri

 

[crackersa]

Some do some dont. Don't go for bare minimum.

 

[Gomez458]

Is there a certain average they require though from your Academic transcript?

 

[cguy]

I've never heard of any specific requirements for grades, although junior candidates definitely get ranked in order of degree, degree in first class, honours, honours first class, etc. which is a rough proxy. Some places may use actual grades to rank, but factors like different courses/modules, multiple majors, number of years for the degree, different universities, etc., generate a lot of noise - it wouldn't make sense to do any fine ordering.

Interestingly, many US companies do sometimes reject recent grads based on GPA, but in the US this number is reasonably well calibrated among universities of similar class, and it is still fairly coarse (the number isn't just a grade average, it's a symbol average).

 

[animal531]

Some do, but overall here in SA I'd go with that it pretty much comes down to how well you can sell yourself.
If you can show that you're interested in the field, actively bettering yourself, learning, read up on the company etc. then you'll do better than a smarter candidate that didn't do their homework and already acts as if they're bored of the field (and/or are there only for the money)