Current Events > Self taught in programming vs degree in IT

(+) Yeah! (+)

Will the CEO hire me without a diploma?
What is the difference between IT, computer science and computer engineering?
I created an HTML website back in high school but I used a software and didnt manually input anything, I cheated!
My love of computers doesnt go beyond gaming.
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KG536 posted...

Will the CEO hire me without a diploma?

CEOs have little to do with the hiring lmfao!

KG536 posted...

What is the difference between IT, computer science and computer engineering?

Two are related to computers, the other is a movie lmfao!
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Youre not going to teach yourself computer science or engineering. Programming languages sure but beyond that nah
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No one is going to look at you as soon as someone with a degree shows up.
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Having a degree always looks better

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KG536 posted...

Will the CEO hire me without a diploma?

The CEO doesn't do hiring unless they are hiring another C-Level or some other weird role the company doesn't already have. The HR department + your direct manager do.

KG536 posted...

What is the difference between IT, computer science and computer engineering?

IT = computery stuff in general.
Computer Science = a lot of stuff but focused on software development
Computer Engineering = Involved with the hardware of PC/Electronics. You might do some software dev but in the sense that you are interfacing with the hardware

KG536 posted...

I created an HTML website back in high school but I used a software and didnt manually input anything, I cheated!

yes you did

KG536 posted...

My love of computers doesnt go beyond gaming.

Neither did mine but now I am an unholy amalgamation of sysadmin/software development

All in all, you can teach yourself to code but you are unlikely to teach yourself computer science.
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LordFarquad1312 posted...

No one is going to look at you as soon as someone with a degree shows up.

Not always correct.

I work in a software company and handle hiring sometimes. The CV is useful to get a baselines idea about what a person's skillset might be, but when it comes to programmers practical application is always more useful to understand. You can have someone with a relevant degree who writes sloppy code, or you could have someone who was self-taught who is a genius in several languages as well as some outlier or softer skills, like web front end stuff or whatever.

The worst ones are the new grads who rest on the laurels of their degree, and have never bothered to self learn or apply themselves. If you think you're walking into a specialist programming job because you have a bachelors in comp sci or something like that, you're joking.

The best programmer in my company was entirely self taught. We have a guy here who has a comp science degree who is a jack of all tradees, master of none. We have a SQL developer with 40 years hands-on experience who is basically unfireable. Real-world practical application is most useful

I'd be interested to see work you had previously done, and then give you some tasks relevant to whatever the role was.

If I was hiring a self-taught programmer, I'd be most concerned about their methods, because a lot of them tend to do a lot of hacky, unacceptable cowboy shit.
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To be clear, computer science is actually a field of study that can be quite different from software engineering. Taking comp sci classes in uni would not necessarily teach you a lot about how to write software.

In the end it depends on what skills you want and what skills the recruiter wants. From talking to recruiters at software companies that I know, they really like it when people have a degree. Not because it guarantees they have certain software skills, know certain languages etc, but rather because it shows that they are able to teach themselves things to a certain extent. Of course, that's in Sweden and degrees here don't necessarily map to equivalent ones elsewhere, but essentially that's what you should be getting from a degree - getting really good at looking stuff up.
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