Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 170 posts

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#41

Post by hoagsobject »

lordnacho wrote: post #37
hoagsobject wrote: post #33

As someone who decided to get BSc degree in Math & Stats after 5 years in industry this thread makes me questioning my decision. Everyone says you don't need degree, but in my experience if you want to do advanced stuff (machine learning, cryptography, algorithms) you probably need one, unless you are extremely talented and can pick up everything on your own. You probably don't need degree if you want to work as SWE…

> unless you are extremely talented and can pick up everything on your own The question is more whether anyone will look at your CV if you didn't do these advanced topics at uni. Most things people can and do learn on their own. If you look at how uni works, what did you do? You went there and found out what you needed to learn, and then spent a bunch of time studying it on your own. There was never enough time in a…

It depends on the subject. You can get feedback from tutors/professors, and evaluation of your work. If you study proofs, you can't verify by yourself if they are good/correct.

Apart from that, if you go in a traditional uni (which is not my case, I do online degree at Open University of UK), you also have great networking opportunities.

Not saying about other subjects, like medicine, physics, biology where you need access to a lab to learn something.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#42

Post by flanked-evergl »

nwoli wrote: post #5

I remember a time when online certificates was an anti signal. I think it still is in many startups. (Most people just hire on skill.)

> I remember a time when online certificates was an anti signal.

I have never interviewed someone with many certifications and thought the person would be a good addition to a team, and I have never worked with someone who has many online certifications and thought they are good at the things they are certified in.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#43

Post by intelVISA »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #22

Having been an engineer interviewing other engineers applying to work for Apple (for 26 years) I can tell you that the best resume was one where the engineer shipped code. Degree became a non-issue if that box was checked.

So any SWE with >0 YOE?

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#44

Post by saagarjha »

lordnacho wrote: post #32
grubbs wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember watching that Freakonomics documentary on Netflix a decade ago. One of the authors mentions "not getting a HS degree is an economic death sentence". I guess times have changed.

It's still generally true though, isn't it? Football (soccer) players sometimes don't have their high school degrees, but they have training in a high paying profession. Same goes with people who can code.

It's true for software engineers, too. There are a lot that get by without college degrees and do well, but for many others it can limit their initial job prospects (most roles at FAANG with have a CS degree as a soft requirement, with some relenting with "equivalent experience").

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#45

Post by poisonborz »

Do you have specific industry areas you want to get into? I was hiring for 5 year for some EU companies (startups to 1k) as an engineer, I _never ever_ looked at the applicant's degree - if you have any university degree, it's a plus ("you are willing to learn") but not much more. CV/past (own) projects will get you all the way.

If you are targeting fintech, ML or "rockstar" corps that might be different.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#46

Post by meneer_oke »

saagarjha wrote: post #39
meneer_oke wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't remember the time that online certificates from MIT, Berkeley, etc would have been anti signals. https://www.edx.org/learn/computer-programming/massachusetts...

Nobody will fault you for learning programming through an online course. They will, however, mark you down for listing that on your resume as your sole programming experience.

Do you that course that I refer to?

People within companies are all different, so we can't say. Some hiring managers might, others actually prefer no degree, others might focus more "shipped". It depends

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#47

Post by dave1999x »

hoagsobject wrote: post #25
jwestbury wrote: post #10

You don't need a CS degree and you don't need certs once you've established yourself. I've been in SRE or SRE-adjacent roles at Amazon, Microsoft, Dropbox, and now a quant hedge fund (the first three in the US, the last in London). My only degree is in English lit. Your hardest step is getting into your first job with good name recognition in the tech industry. For this, your best bet isn't certs, it's networking --…

How did you learn stuff for working in such companies? I always assumed you need a lot of math and theory to work in finance.

yeh, you do and most will want a degree at at least 2.1 even if you have a decades experience... unless you have the hallmarks of being rich e.g. went to some fancy school OR have a network that extends into a hedge fund

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#48

Post by saagarjha »

meneer_oke wrote: post #46
saagarjha wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody will fault you for learning programming through an online course. They will, however, mark you down for listing that on your resume as your sole programming experience.

Do you that course that I refer to? People within companies are all different, so we can't say. Some hiring managers might, others actually prefer no degree, others might focus more "shipped". It depends

To be clear I'm speaking generally, not on an individual basis. Everyone has their own preferences–I personally don't discount it. But in my experience the average hiring manager does, because certifications are often seen as a thing you just pay money for to get a piece of paper. Of course college degrees are like that too, but the quality of "big state school CS degree" is usually somewhat regulated and "big state school 6 month CS certification" is often not.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#49

Post by trumbitta2 »

trumbitta2 wrote: post #23

FAANG != "or other tech companies" Choose one side of the coin and prepare accordingly. To simplify: - FAANG (and FAANG wannabes): leet code, algo, CS stuff - other tech companies: getting things done, Open Source contributions

First rule of FAANG club is you never simplify how things work at FAANG club.

Members will come at you.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a SWE without a CS degree. Will online certs help me get into FAANG?

#50

Post by jdjdjdjdjdjd »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #22

Having been an engineer interviewing other engineers applying to work for Apple (for 26 years) I can tell you that the best resume was one where the engineer shipped code. Degree became a non-issue if that box was checked.

Thank you for your insight.

Apple is one of the few FAANG companies with a decent number of open vacancies in the UK at the moment.

Can you tell me what you mean by shipped code? I've shipped plenty of code in my current job (none of it is that exciting, though). I probably don't emphasise it enough on my current CV, now I think about it.

Post reply on HN