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Show HN: I made a jobs board for developers without degrees

nocsok.com

211–220 of 336 posts

Re: Show HN: I made a jobs board for developers without degrees

#213
Hmm. Wouldn't this be just a regular job board where an applicant ignores any requirements in the postings that applicants have a degree?

For me, hiring, the criterion is more like "could get a degree". Whether or not you actually have the degree doesn't matter to me. Someone who isn't smart enough/motivated enough to get a degree, if they wanted to and had the time/money, well I'd probably not hire that person. Perhaps this is what folks are really getting at when they say you need a degree?

Re: Show HN: I made a jobs board for developers without degrees

#214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what does it mean to “know how threads work”? Do I really need a CS degree to use Go routines or redux sagas? Tbh I wonder constantly if I should get a CS degree. I’ve been working for 4.5 years now and while I feel competent it’s hard to determine the value of things like this. I can profile my code and optimize it, I can determine if a request is blocking and I can fix it using whatever tools are provided in the…

Threads, processes and OS primitives are a big part of your foundational knowledge. In your own words, you are only limited at attacking an problem by the tools and language primitives afforded to you. What about thinking for yourself when those tools have limitations ? For example, when you have a "heisenbug" very few tools can help you fix it. However, if you understand how threads work, what data they share, you h…

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Re: Show HN: I made a jobs board for developers without degrees

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole point of my comment is to encourage people to who don't exactly meet the requirements to apply. I might attempt to make that more explicit next time but it's a slow process.

Why would I waste my time applying if it specifically states a CS degree is required? If you don't REQUIRE it, state that. It's not encouraging at all. Last time I was applying for work, I sent out 150 applications/resumes, every single one I look at the list of requirements, if I don't meet one of them, I don't apply because it's a waste of my time.

Because HR and recruiters were involved what gets posted is a very rough approximation to the real requirements. Heck many places I've worked we would invent a job for someone who applied for a different one for which they weren't a good fit.

Re: Show HN: I made a jobs board for developers without degrees

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I waste my time applying if it specifically states a CS degree is required? If you don't REQUIRE it, state that. It's not encouraging at all. Last time I was applying for work, I sent out 150 applications/resumes, every single one I look at the list of requirements, if I don't meet one of them, I don't apply because it's a waste of my time.

Job 'requirements' are there to get rid of people like you. If you're not confident in your fundamentals then you won't apply because you can't tick all the boxes. If you ARE confident in your fundamentals then you'll apply and probably get the job and the posted 'requirements' won't even factor into it. Knowing that is the difference between 150 applications, and just 1.

You were a little more direct than I would have been, but I was thinking the same thing. Basically ignore the job posting/resume process, or just work with it only as much as you need to in order to get in front of someone with hiring powers.

Also, remember that the people who actually decide who to hire are often as frustrated with the process and its artificiality as the applicants.

Re: Show HN: I made a jobs board for developers without degrees

#217
post #26

Was super confused by the name (was reading it as Noc Sok) until I clicked through to the about page which formats it as "No CS OK".

Fair enough - I might roll it into my other website No CS Degree in future.

I actually love it. Knock sock.

Re: Show HN: I made a jobs board for developers without degrees

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did Big O Notation in college and I still can't remember which notation is faster/slower. After college/university you begin to forget a lot of the specific textbook stuff and begin to replace it with the put-food-on-your-table practical stuff.

As someone without a CS this is reassuring.

I really recommend trying to learn just the basics about big-O, because it is really the single most important thing that a CS degree teaches you.

Re: Show HN: I made a jobs board for developers without degrees

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a hiring manager, I fully agree. All our job postings say "CS degree required". But if you have experience and a good resume it absolutely doesn't matter. It matter a lot more for juniors who lack any sort of experience. I think it make good sense for young people to get a degree but it makes less sense for seasoned professionals to go back and get one. If you don't have a degree but have experience, don't let the…

> All our job postings say "CS degree required". But if you have experience and a good resume it absolutely doesn't matter. So, you lie about your actual requirements (how hard is it to add the classic “or equivalent experience” qualification?) and expect potential applicants to intuit your hidden meaning?

Thinking about this more...I seem to remember we used to have wording "CS degree or equivalent" which takes care of the lying aspect. There may be some detail of US labor law that make this a bad idea, not sure (for me having moved from UK to US the laws and customs around hiring are a bit odd and unintuitive...for what I understand are good historical reasons).
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