I've been struggling a bit in my education, mainly because I want to focus on gaining experience in the technology industry. I was wondering, as an employer, do you tend to favor experience or education from an applicant?
Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
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Re: Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
#2I have worked with some impressive people who have little to no formal education.
That said, getting inside the door might be a lot harder.
Re: Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
#3If you have little or no work experience, then your prospective employer will focus on your education. Once you have more experience, then that is what matters the most.
Some advice: internships and engineering coops are really great ways to get experience in your field, while getting that magical degree.
Re: Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
#4It's not a one-or-the-other, IMO--you'll want both, eventually.
The most successful candidates I've seen often complete their degree while working actively on passion projects and going on internships/coops.
Re: Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
#5If you have little or no work experience, then your prospective employer will focus on your education. Once you have more experience, then that is what matters the most. Some advice: internships and engineering coops are really great ways to get experience in your field, while getting that magical degree.
For sure. I have had a student assistantship for the past three and a half years, but I took a leave of absence from it over the summer to pursue a separate internship in industry (the student assistantship is in academia/federally funded research center). It was great seeing the difference between academia and industry and I'll be graduating in December with my BS in CS with a job lined up in industry.
My student assistantship started the summer after my senior year of high school and I attribute some of it to my prior experience since my high school didn't provide much in the way of CS classes so I lacked a formal education but it wasn't a full time job either.
Re: Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
#6[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
#7While experience is generally valued more highly than education, it's worth remembering that many companies (in particular, the big, popular ones like Google, etc.) often have an education requirement irrespective of experience.
Re: Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
#8I have very little formal education in CS, I've had no problems getting a career going. Especially at smaller companies that have less experience hiring, it's not difficult to get in the door with some networking and proof of your skills. Larger companies with a larger volume of applicants are more likely to use metrics like degrees as a filter, with small companies the right experience can matter much more than a degree.
I was able to find a student startup that I was enthusiastic about and overwork myself until I had enough experience to become interesting to larger companies, ultimately tripling my income in a 3 year period. There are many paths, but they're not always obvious.
Re: Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
#9I didn't finish my degree until I was 30. I am 39 now, so I spent roughly half my career without a degree and the other half with a degree.
For me, the difference is fairly simple. My education is a credential and it helps me get my foot in the door. My experience helps me actually get shit done.
Re: Ask HN: Experience vs. Education?
#10I think it really matters when looking for your first professional job.
Some formal education shows that you have at least the commitment and self-discipline to achieve a goal.
If not, you should be able to show off some professional work that you did (and you are able to demonstrate that YOU did it), which could be a problem if your expertise is something like, say, embedded software, and not frontend web developer.
After a couple of years of demonstrable experience, it should really not matter, although some of the more established/formal companies might still be looking for people with degrees (for reasons unknown to me).