I've saved my most controversial hiring topic for last, at least last in this current series of related articles. Does a college degree factor into hiring for technical jobs? Notice I specified "technical jobs". I think a college degree is an absolute must for certain positions and careers. I'm also not overlooking the myriad other benefits that college might offer. I'm simply looking at this from the perspective of a hiring manager deciding whether or not to disqualify a candidate because they don't have at least a four-year degree. The short answer is no. I don't think a degree is necessary in roles like software development, devops, or cybersecurity. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there that disagree, so let me make my case.
The first time I floated this idea was nearly eight years ago. At the time, both my boss and HR were skeptical to say the least. It had always been the norm for us to include this requirement on all of our job postings. They thought that if we omitted it, we would start to get lower quality candidates. I fought with them, and in the end, we came to a compromise. We included it as "preferred" instead of "required". Truth be told, I completely ignored this while looking at resumes and simply skipped over the education portion of most people's resumes. So since then, what have I found?
Well, I guess I ruined the punchline at the beginning of this article. I found no correlation between competence and performance for those with or without a college degree. I'm not saying those without one were better. I'm saying it didn't matter. It wasn't just technical knowledge where I saw little difference. General problem-solving skills and social skills also did not seem to correlate with a four-year degree.
What made a far bigger difference were the certifications they had. A deep dive into certifications is beyond the scope of this article. Suffice it to say, if the certificates were pertinent and high quality, they were a far better predictor of an employee's performance.
During that same time, I also had a chance to manage a number of interns. These were always juniors or seniors in college, so I got to see exactly what they were being taught... and quite frankly, it had little in common with a real-world job environment. Every company's setup is unique in some way. From the technology stacks preferred, the vendors chosen, and the approval process used to get things done, there are things you can only learn on the job. No amount of previous education will help with that. Add to that the fact that curriculums seemed to lag the latest technical thinking and best practices by six months in the best circumstances and years in the worst. This makes sense. It takes a long time to develop a college level curriculum, and these are not things that can be constantly rejiggered overnight.
Certificates, at least the good ones, tend to be updated on a yearly basis to be as relevant as possible. So, when I look at a resume, I'm not just looking at the certificate itself but also when the person obtained it (though this is often omitted on many resumes). That said, I'm not suggesting certification is a perfect proxy for knowledge. It isn't. Some certificates are better than others. Over time, you'll start to get a feel for which ones matter most.
I've only mentioned degrees and certificates. Some of you may be wondering about bootcamps and self-taught learners. The truth is, I don't have enough evidence or experience to weigh in on this. I've had mixed results with people who have only taken bootcamps, and I have no good way to evaluate which ones are more valuable than others. The way I look at it, I don't care how you obtain the knowledge, a certificate proves you did obtain that knowledge.
So am I saying people looking for technical jobs shouldn't go to college. I wouldn't dare be that presumptuous. However, I am saying that as a hiring manager, it makes absolutely no difference to me.