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Do Developers Need College Degrees?

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11–20 of 198 posts

Re: Do Developers Need College Degrees?

#11

Succeed personally: no. Some dev jobs obviously require a lot of foundational knowledge. I wouldn't want to have a colleague who didn't know linear algebra, simply because that's important in my field. That's not important for making Wordpress sites. I think there are things "every good developer should know" such as knowledge about how cpus work, how OS'es work, how some important algorithms work, some basic set the…

> If the diploma is from a prestigeous school but says they failed math 101 four times over that would make me doubt their capacity.

I don't think diplomas nor resumes normally list failed classes ;)

Re: Do Developers Need College Degrees?

#13

Succeed personally: no. Some dev jobs obviously require a lot of foundational knowledge. I wouldn't want to have a colleague who didn't know linear algebra, simply because that's important in my field. That's not important for making Wordpress sites. I think there are things "every good developer should know" such as knowledge about how cpus work, how OS'es work, how some important algorithms work, some basic set the…

> If the diploma is from a prestigeous school but says they failed math 101 four times over that would make me doubt their capacity. I don't think diplomas nor resumes normally list failed classes ;)

It's not uncommon for employers to request GPA and/or transcripts. Source: I graduated 2 years ago.

Re: Do Developers Need College Degrees?

#17
I suppose it also depends on what type of development you want to. A lot of fields won't require it, such as front-end, apps etc.. Other fields, such as AI/ML/advanced graphics etc a lot of the people working there usually has a college degree and more.

Re: Do Developers Need College Degrees?

#18

Succeed personally: no. Some dev jobs obviously require a lot of foundational knowledge. I wouldn't want to have a colleague who didn't know linear algebra, simply because that's important in my field. That's not important for making Wordpress sites. I think there are things "every good developer should know" such as knowledge about how cpus work, how OS'es work, how some important algorithms work, some basic set the…

> If the diploma is from a prestigeous school but says they failed math 101 four times over that would make me doubt their capacity. I don't think diplomas nor resumes normally list failed classes ;)

It's usually obvious from the ones I see (I don't see diplomas I get transcripts with classes taken, dates they were passed, and grades)

The usual sign is someone e.g getting a masters degree 2000-2005, and passing the introductory math classes in 2005.

Re: Do Developers Need College Degrees?

#19
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If the diploma is from a prestigeous school but says they failed math 101 four times over that would make me doubt their capacity. I don't think diplomas nor resumes normally list failed classes ;)

It's not uncommon for employers to request GPA and/or transcripts. Source: I graduated 2 years ago.

I always get them without even asking (Europe). I never received a "diploma" however. Only transcripts of classes.

Re: Do Developers Need College Degrees?

#20
Having a college degree can be a requirement for work visas. I moved to SF from Europe, and this would have been a real problem without a master degree. Not sure about requirements for european visas, but that's probably true too.
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