South African tech CEO qualifications

[Jamie McKane]

South African tech CEO qualifications

Many learners who have completed their matric exams are now planning to go to university to get qualified for the workplace.

Although a university degree is not a guarantee to land a job or to make it to the top, it is a prerequisite for many positions.

 

[Willie Trombone]

A university degree, likely at least 20 years old in most cases, is probably the least valuable metric of qualification for the job of CEO.
MBA maybe higher, but number of years of experience at upper levels of business would count way more in my books... plus proven track record.

 

[charlieharper]

A university degree, likely at least 20 years old in most cases, is probably the least valuable metric of qualification for the job of CEO.
MBA maybe higher, but number of years of experience at upper levels of business would count way more in my books... plus proven track record.

Was about to say the same.
A degree makes it 'easier', but credibility outweighs it by far, especially in the business world.

Far fetched example, but if you could make someone like Bill Gates (drop out, what a loser ) CEO of your company, you'd probably take him, above even those with the highest of qualifications (read Harvard, MBA, Doctorate, straight A's, etc, etc).

 

[Willie Trombone]

Was about to say the same.
A degree makes it 'easier', but credibility outweighs it by far, especially in the business world.

Far fetched example, but if you could make someone like Bill Gates (drop out, what a loser ) CEO of your company, you'd probably take him, above even those with the highest of qualifications (read Harvard, MBA, Doctorate, straight A's, etc, etc).

So many successful business people don't have those degrees...
Gates, Allen, Jobs, Dell... seems the tech sector is full of them. Perhaps because it's been the fastest growing sector in the past few decades and tertiary education is likely lagging.

 

[cguy]

So many successful business people don't have those degrees...
Gates, Allen, Jobs, Dell... seems the tech sector is full of them. Perhaps because it's been the fastest growing sector in the past few decades and tertiary education is likely lagging.

By far, most in the tech sector do have degrees. Gates, Allen and Zuckerberg did several years of a degree and finished with the requisite knowledge, but did not stick around long enough to get the paper.

 

[cguy]

Far fetched example, but if you could make someone like Bill Gates (drop out, what a loser ) CEO of your company, you'd probably take him, above even those with the highest of qualifications (read Harvard, MBA, Doctorate, straight A's, etc, etc).

If I encountered a drop out who published a computer science paper improving on known existing algorithms for a given problem (such as Gates), I would hire them in a heartbeat for most technical roles.

People seem to think he was a “drop out”, when in reality he had a stronger academic qualification than a degree (a published scientific paper).

 

[B-1]

By far, most in the tech sector do have degrees. Gates, Allen and Zuckerberg did several years of a degree and finished with the requisite knowledge, but did not stick around long enough to get the paper.

So if I have half a b-tech and half a b-com I'm good?

 

[cguy]

So if I have half a b-tech and half a b-com I'm good?

If it’s from Harvard, sure.