Degree qualified?

[Countdown]

Scabutz said:

When I hire devs I dont look for qualifications at all. Look at their experience, technical test them, interview.

if you had one applicant who had 25 years experience, and one with 24 years 6 months plus a couple of relevant qualifications then, all other things being equal, who would you hire ?

ETA: Just noticed that you said you would "technical test" them. In Finance it's not always possible to do this so you look for formal qualifications as a proxy.

[Scabutz]

Countdown said:

Scabutz said:

When I hire devs I dont look for qualifications at all. Look at their experience, technical test them, interview.

if you had one applicant who had 25 years experience, and one with 24 years 6 months plus a couple of relevant qualifications then, all other things being equal, who would you hire ?

ETA: Just noticed that you said you would "technical test" them. In Finance it's not always possible to do this so you look for formal qualifications as a proxy.

Yeah interview both, who performs best in the technical test and who's personality fits with the teams best. Given the lack of devs available in the market having 2 that experienced to interview at the same time would be an absolute luxury.

Even technical tests are not always perfect. Again there is a difference between recalling knowledge and being able to apply it. I like to just ask questions and talk tech, you can get a good feel if someone knows what they are talking about or not.

[Art0ir]

Countdown said:

Two areas that I'm familiar with (Finance and Law) in order to become fully qualified you actually need to demonstrate practical competence in the workplace before somebody "signs you off" as it were, so not all qualifications are purely knowledge-based. A couple of my relatives are CCNA and MCSE qualified and I don't think they would have got the technical qualification just by reading books. Both work full-time in IT and needed the practical aspects to reinforce the book learning.

For the avoidance of doubt I'm not disputing that experience is also important. I just think that sometimes these threads can ignore the importance of qualifications ("I left school at t' age of 15, went down t'pit, and now I'm a powerfully built Director who manages 600 t' staff" )

There are a large number of IT workers with a list the length of your arm of certifications and qualifications from the main vendors who did little beyond skim through the books and memorise the test questions and answers. There has been a push to increase the practical elements on the exams (here is a scenario, how would you engineer a solution type sections) but they’re still not quite there.

[echazfraz]

So what we're kind of saying is - a combination of the right skills, knowledge and experience is key?

Who would have thought it?!

[ObSceney]

boxst said:

randlemarcus said:

Arranguez said:

I wonder what the likes of Accenture might say if I ever apply there.

Yes.

Or at least it's not an automated no. It's the decades of relevant experience that works on your favour. No shortcuts.

If you have the relvant experience then Accenture seem not to mind. But the key to everything said here is that you need experience and it is quite difficult to get that initial job.

I do not have a degree and am doing well, but I'm old and in IT and (directly opposite to one the statements above) could demonstrate I could code having written games and software at home on an Atari 800. I then had the relevant experience and the lack of degree became irrelevant.

Apart from being a teacher. I wanted to semi-retire and quite fancied just teaching IT at a local school but couldn't as I didn't have a degree. It didn't matter if my degree was in Surf Science (that exists) I just had to tick the box.

I don't have a degree but still managed a successful 10-year career at Accenture. I left Accenture to join a leading investment bank and financial services company where the on the job description it stated a MSc as a requirement. Experience got me the job

Is a degree essential...no, but I'm sure it will provide you with more options.