Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#1

Post by platevoltage » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:06 AM UTC

tldr; skip to the --------

Last time I "Asked HN", I was in a very different place. Fresh out of a bootcamp, right at the peak, and subsequent collapse of the Covid hiring. It didn't go well. However, another HN reader turned me on to Upwork, and over the last 2 years, I've been building modest freelancing career.

I came from an automotive background where I made awful money, moved to the Bay Area, became a bike messenger in San Francisco because I didn't know what to do with myself, and once again made awful money.

I had been a hobbyist programmer for years by this point, so I got sucked into the bootcamp racket. The program was great. I got what I needed out of it, although the certificate wasn't worth the paper it was printed on.

I landed an ongoing contract on Upwork, which I still work on which really changed everything for me. I also landed an internship at Akamai as a Cloud Support Engineer, which never resulted in employment, but I'm not sure it's the type of work that I really want to be doing. It was more of a foot in the door type thing for me.

Either way, I am now making a living off of software development. A lucrative living? no, but it works for my lifestyle.

Several years ago, we were all told "You don't need a degree bro, degrees are obsolete bro, companies only care about what you know".

I found out that this wasn't true the hard way, however now I at least have some professional experience to my name. The job market is bad for everyone right now. I'm not necessarily looking for a job ATM, but at some point, the grind and hustle of freelancing might either fizzle out, or I might just get tired of it.

Now that that's out of the way, here is my question...

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I've thought about doing an online CS degree. It seems like this can be done for less than 15 grand, and also doable while still making money.

Is this a bad idea? Is this a good idea? Is this necessary if I want to be employable in the future?

Re: Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#2

Post by orionblastar » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:19 AM UTC

I have a CS and Business Management degree. What got me hired was my knowledge and experience, and I worked with coworkers without degrees. You have to prove that you can do the job.

Then again, I've seen $15/hr jobs that require a Master's in CS. That management is crazy.

Re: Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#3

Post by platevoltage » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:29 AM UTC

orionblastar wrote: post #2

I have a CS and Business Management degree. What got me hired was my knowledge and experience, and I worked with coworkers without degrees. You have to prove that you can do the job. Then again, I've seen $15/hr jobs that require a Master's in CS. That management is crazy.

I hear you. Even with the degree, you have to know your stuff. I just feel like my resume always ends up at the bottom of the pile.

Re: Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#4

Post by candiddevmike » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:32 AM UTC

As soon as you've gotten your first job, degrees cease to matter for the most part until you start pursuing non-technical tracks IMO. There are some jobs that have bachelor requirements due to some weird contractual or government need though.

Re: Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#5

Post by zdragnar » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:37 AM UTC

I can't speak to whether an online degree is worthwhile.

What I can say is that the more you fill out your resume with work experience, the less the degree will matter to non-FANG employers.

I suppose it depends on the kind of programming that you do, but not having a CS degree hasn't held me back at all. By this point I've got over 16 years of experience I think, and I don't even bother listing much about my education other than having a BA and the university I got it from.

If you're thinking about doing something else to have some variety on the resume, authoring and maintaining an open source library, or becoming a contributor or maintainer of one is always a nice addition to the resume. Unlike getting a degree, it's free to do (time aside) and can show a different kind of experience than you might be getting now through freelancing.

Re: Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#6

Post by airstrike » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:37 AM UTC

platevoltage wrote: post #3

orionblastar wrote: post #2

I have a CS and Business Management degree. What got me hired was my knowledge and experience, and I worked with coworkers without degrees. You have to prove that you can do the job. Then again, I've seen $15/hr jobs that require a Master's in CS. That management is crazy.

I hear you. Even with the degree, you have to know your stuff. I just feel like my resume always ends up at the bottom of the pile.

Try to find someone who can give you a warm intro. Don't reach out to HR first.

Re: Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#7

Post by willismichael » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:38 AM UTC

orionblastar wrote: post #2

I have a CS and Business Management degree. What got me hired was my knowledge and experience, and I worked with coworkers without degrees. You have to prove that you can do the job. Then again, I've seen $15/hr jobs that require a Master's in CS. That management is crazy.

I have a close relative who made more than that doing more or less entry level manual labor for the local city govt.

Re: Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#8

Post by readthenotes1 » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:41 AM UTC

I'm pessimistic about the future of software development careers in the US.

Not only are you competing with lower cost people from around the world, you will increasingly begin competing versus vibe coding (at the entry level) and the never-sick-but often-wrong AI (replacing the entry and lower mid-level).

There's also, apparently, a glut in the market from all the people stockpiled during Covid and subsequently made redundant.

--

In the flip side, if you have a really strong network of people wanting to hire you if not for the B.S. checkmark, it'll probably be a good move

Re: Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#9

Post by dhqgekt » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:43 AM UTC

Youtuber PolyMatter has very recently made a video about exactly this topic: https://youtu.be/bThPluSzlDU

Re: Ask HN: CS degrees, do they matter again?

#10

Post by nemothekid » Mon, Apr 28, 2025, 2:44 AM UTC

I'm not confident that an online degree is the best way to improve your job prospects at the cost of $15k. The type of degree that would is likely a 4 year degree from any better-than-median school (obviously a top school would increase your chances tremendously).

In other words, the value of the degree, in tech, is largely the brand name of the school that issued the degree, and I wouldn't expect an online CS degree to open any doors that a bootcamp couldn't also open.