Hello dev.to() members. I was wondering wether you consider getting a CS degree as a requirement for those looking for a job in fields like web/mobile development ...
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Top comments (51)
Strictly speaking: no. But it does significantly improve your chances of getting through the different steps in the hiring process. Also some places do require CS degrees, but they are a minority.
What about other positions in machine learning for example ... Does the same rule imply?
AI is still in the field of "science" rather than "engineering", so the way to find a job right now is to have a PHD in something related. At least in my company, AI people spend more time reading papers than actually building anything useful. ;)
This will change in the next 5 years, as NN and related technologies will become more "mainstream".
reposted from Brandon Rohrer's LinkedIn.
not really sure. I've never been on the hiring side for anything other than "data scientist". That was PHD required.
I personally don't put a lot of stock in the CS degree (and don't have one), but it certainly helps in general.
I wouldn't go out of my way to get a degree just for the degree, but I'm sure there's a lot to learn along the way as you do it!
Well I live in Tunisia and the educational system in my opinion is just a waste of time ... And I can't wrap my head about what I should do ...
I agree with Ben-- if the classes are not on the same level as universities elsewhere, then skip it. But understand that this puts an initial hurdle in front of every job you apply to: they're going to want you to prove you have your coding fundamentals in order. (The exception is freelance work.)
I have a CS degree, and I've been a professional dev for ~18 years, and I typically get questions about:
And for Java-related jobs (and even some JavaScript stuff) I get questions about design patterns (See Gamma, et al.) and Interfaces vs. Abstract classes, etc.
If you don't have a degree, many interviewers will want to cover this stuff in depth with you to make sure you know it. Yes, this is slightly silly: I literally can't remember the last time I had to actually implement a sorting algorithm at work. On the other hand, you know they'll ask about it, so don't let the silliness get in the way of your career.
The other things you gain by taking classes/attending university are not in the syllabus. I found that every class taught me at least one or two things that were not actual course requirements. (Sometimes it'll hone your testing skills. Sometimes the biggest take-away is how to deal with a Professor who's an asshole.)
And honestly, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my career until I went to university. I started out studying music, then switched to computer science without even really knowing what kind of coding I'd find interesting, and then I saw Mosaic...
I guess what I'm saying is that if the classes are cheap, and you have the time, university is not a bad way to meet cool people, learn unexpected stuff, and find direction. All of that is orthogonal to what's in the course description or the quality of the instruction.
In that case, I'd skip it and work on your personal brand. I think you're off to a good start by sharing knowledge here. Keep building (IMO one good personal project is better than many) and create a pleasing portfolio and overall web presence and you'll be on easy street as long as you keep improving as a coder. And you will keep improving if you go deep on a project.
That's just my thought, but if you want more specific, more opinionated advice, let me know.
Thank you
Get a degree and work simultaneously, if the university is not strict with attendance. This is what people in my country generally do.
My course had a lot classes that are not immediately applicable to the work I do but they gave me a lot of perspective, so I do think a degree makes a more well-rounded software engineer.
A lot of American Universities are beginning to offer completely equivalent online degrees at a really cheap price to promote sustainability, diversity, and cheaper education. For instance, I'm in my second semester of Georgia Tech's Online Master's of Computer Science program. For around $6000, you can obtain a master's degree from a top 10 institution for Computer Science. The low price and the fact that you never have to step foot on campus makes it a very plausible opportunity for students who live outside of the US. The program is very progressive so classes are around relevant topics like AI, Machine Learning, & more. I highly recommend it! omscs.gatech.edu/
They think education is cheap and good, everyone can get it, so why not simply let the universities filter out people and take what's left.
I agree with many in that it really does depend. It depends on your location, the type of job, and you as an individual. I recently had lunch with one of my previous professors that taught me Java from first to third year. She was interested to know if I found my degree useful. And honestly, I only really found her subject of Java to be useful :D. I have worked in companies where they would not even look at you if you don't have a degree. I'm totally against that viewpoint. I have worked with people that have masters degrees and found them to be quite useless. And then I have worked with people that are self-taught with no formal training but were quite brilliant. In fact I have generally found that individuals with degrees can become lazy as they like to fall back on the fact that they have a degree. A degree is also what you as an individual make of it. I think that if one only follows the curriculum of a degree, you could find yourself feeling completely overwhelmed when you get into the real world. The way I see it is that one always wants to do things that make you stand out from the rest. A degree is one way to achieve that but it's not the only way.
My job requires a CS degree (I'm a CS professor) :)
It feels like 4-year degrees are becoming the new high-school diploma in the US. There's such a heavy push for everyone to go to college that the degree is being devalued, especially for liberal-arts grads.
If you are just looking for a dev job, and don't have any long-term plans to move beyond that, I think a CS degree is overkill, since it's so easy these days to demonstrate competence in coding.
On the other hand, the four-year degree is so much more than learning technical skills; completing a professional degree program (engineering, sciences, etc) says something about your character and talent that can differentiate you from someone who is self-taught.
If you have to choose between experience and a CS degree, go with experience. In both my jobs few developers had a formal education in CS. Those who did tended to be in more senior positions, but that's the only formal difference I've seen.
I would encourage getting familiar with at least the basics, which can help. There's a Crash Course Computer Science series on YouTube I would recommend as an easier starting point.
MIT's?
It depends on the market and company. Here in Germany big companies love their degrees. Startups tend to care less everywhere.
There's a big caveat to not having a degree, you must nonetheless know the material covered by a decent degree.
In a technical interview you must be able to answer technical questions. This includes how a computer works (memory, ram, CPUs, threading, etc.) as well as basic complexity theory, and also process questions (such as issues and source control). I expect knowledge about software architecture and experience in basic distributed systems (think cloud deployment).
It's not really relevant to me that your degree may not have covered that material. I want you to know it before I'd hire you.
What a degree does tell me is that you're capable of following instructions and capable of learning. For somebody without experience this could be helpful to get the initial interview, and can provide some talking points.
In Germany they really care about degrees and it bothers me, you earn more if you have one regardless of what you actually know and can do
Yes.
If you are a freelancer, even the state looks at this.
You wanna be "freiberufler" and not pay corporate taxes? Well, better sell some "higher value services"! How do you proove this? Simple, get a degree and we believe you, otherwise? good luck!
Yeah, the laws for Freiberufler are rather unfair.
Thank you. That was helpful.
of course yes , and if u re studying CS degree , u can make ur own job , so u re not obliged to wait for someone to give u a job
That's not really the case. Being a successful entrepreneur has nothing to do with CS degrees I believe ...
The short answer is no - and that's not even just for web/mobile development. You don't need a CS degree even if you wanted to do VR/AR development, be a Back-end/Front-End/Full Stack developer, etc...the list goes on.
From my understanding, the trend is shifting to be "it's nice if you have a degree, but what can you do OR what have you done?" - and I say this as a CS student myself.
Now if you ask me why I'm getting my degree then, well that's simply because I have hopes of getting my Masters or PhD and getting my Bachelor's first is a step in that direction.
Whatever you decide to do, just be sure to give it your best and know that there's a community out there (ahemdevtoahem) always willing to assist you in any way they can. Best of luck to you!
Thank you
I have a CS degree. IT IS NOT NEEDED!* (*Terms and conditions may apply)
What I've found is that most jobs say they require a CS degree however if you apply without one and have relevant experience, you will most likely make it to the first round of the interview process.
However, if you wish to be given a learning plan to follow or what to dive into the deep science side of the Software Engineering then it would HELP to have a degree.
Note, it varies country to country. Personally, I'm from the UK.