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Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

businessinsider.com

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Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#51

Post by C1sc0cat »

benjaminsuch wrote: post #14

I think it all comes down to the required skills. If you don't have a degree, you have to convince the company in other way that you have what they need. Especially in software development it's pretty easy to show your skills.

How so? and you have to get past the gate keepers first.

I am sure I got dropped from a FANG job I applied for as the initial screening was done by an entry level hr person in a European country which is even more strict about having a degree and less liberal in dealing with atypical candidates.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#52

Post by seanmcdirmid »

xfitm3 wrote: post #35
sthadevoos wrote: post #19

Just curious, how does apple's recruiters shortlist people if they are not looking for college degrees. We need some criteria for sorting through the haystack..right? Or is it just a standard motivational talk which we just read ,feel good, nod our heads and move on?

How about accomplishment and impact instead of credentials?

Because recruiters can reason about the latter but only engineers/practitioners can really reason about the former.

Non-degreed applicants almost always need a recommendation to bypass recruiter screening (though recommendations work better than recruiter CV screening in general).

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#53

Post by Kye »

bluedevil2k wrote: post #20
jordache wrote: post #7

A lot of current jobs directly tied to some sort of college degrees will be automated out of existence in the near future.

This is a silly statement - I’d say a lot more jobs currently tied to NOT needing a college degree will be automated out of existence. Jobs that require creativity and critical thinking will be the ones that survive (I believe that’s the quote from the recent Last Week Tonight). Those tend to be college educated jobs.

This is only true if all the things humans perceive as requiring human creativity and critical thinking actually require them. Human brains are notoriously bad at self-assessment.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#54

Post by sthadevoos »

xfitm3 wrote: post #35
sthadevoos wrote: post #19

Just curious, how does apple's recruiters shortlist people if they are not looking for college degrees. We need some criteria for sorting through the haystack..right? Or is it just a standard motivational talk which we just read ,feel good, nod our heads and move on?

How about accomplishment and impact instead of credentials?

The point is who says you are accomplished and your work has an impact? For coding,yes. Your github account showcases your accomplishments and it is open to everyone for verification. But for the rest, i mean the non programmer jobs in sales, marketing, retail,finance ,customer care you cannot have your accomplishments showcased in a verifiable manner. For any company or recruiter, a guy from a decent college with good enough grades gives far more comfort than a random guy with a blog.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#57

Post by C1sc0cat »

0815test wrote: post #11

> Apple CEO Tim Cook says there’s a “mismatch” between the skills learned in college and the skills that businesses need, especially when it comes to coding . [emphasis added] So, it's fine when it's Tim Apple saying this! What happened on Twitter was So Unfair and So Sad!

Ah the English Disease "Employers not wanting to pay for training"

Universitys job isn't to rote teach how to code

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#58

Post by ericalexander3 »

sthadevoos wrote: post #19

Just curious, how does apple's recruiters shortlist people if they are not looking for college degrees. We need some criteria for sorting through the haystack..right? Or is it just a standard motivational talk which we just read ,feel good, nod our heads and move on?

Coding test early in the recruitment pipeline. I've seen plenty of CS degrees on resumes that can't pass basic coding exercises/tests; at the same time, I've been impressed with the capabilities of new grads.

I'm looking for autodidects and could care less what educational format they prefer.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#59

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

emcrazyone wrote: post #50
todd3834 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a former senior software engineer at Apple and I do not have a degree.

I'm a senior software develop & architect with two degrees. Does that make me over qualified for Apple software jobs?

No, but you and todd3834 would average out.

Re: Tim Cook explains why you don’t need a college degree to be successful

#60

Post by sys_64738 »

With a college degree, specifically a Computer Science degree, you generally expect a certain level of competence in CS fundamentals. E.g. the recipient will know about Big O notation, will be able to do problem analysis and design, and understand programming principles like heap memory, object methodology and concepts like memory pointers.
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