Ask HN: Is it possible to get a job in CS without a degree?
6 comments
Assuming by "job in CS" you mean "job developing software", of course you can, and many people have - I am one of them, and I have met many others over the 33 years of my career so far.
You need something that will give you credibility and get you in the door, and for most people that's a degree. If you can find some other way of getting practical work experience onto your resume, you can get hired without one, and after a few more years nobody will care at all how you got into the field.
You need something that will give you credibility and get you in the door, and for most people that's a degree. If you can find some other way of getting practical work experience onto your resume, you can get hired without one, and after a few more years nobody will care at all how you got into the field.
Certainly. Many companies have degree requirements, but a lot do not. The value of degrees have also decreased in this space, especially with oversupply of graduates (most of whom are just using AI for everything).
Practical knowledge, and ideally experience will always eclipse degrees.
Practical knowledge, and ideally experience will always eclipse degrees.
Yes. Apply for jobs you believe you have the skills for, the test is the interview. Identify gaps as you interview to find where you need to improve while you continue interview cycles.
The credential is a checkbox from a hiring perspective, broadly speaking.
The credential is a checkbox from a hiring perspective, broadly speaking.
It depends on what you mean by "a job in CS". An academic job, actually working with computer science concepts? Doubtful. But that is not what most tech jobs are. Coding and IT roles are certainly related to the academic CS, but you don't need to know the academic side to succeed in the industry. And all the non-tech roles in the tech industry are more about business and communication skills, not CS skills.
Definitely possible. I dropped out at 16 and now run a startup after leading growth at Revolut.
The key differentiator for non-degree candidates: demonstrated results over credentials. Build something people can see - a side project, open source contribution, or portfolio piece that shows you can ship.
Three things that worked for me:
1. Start in adjacent roles. My path was athlete → operations → marketing → growth → founder. Each step built skills that compounded.
2. Over-index on learning velocity. Companies hiring non-degree candidates are betting you can learn fast. Show evidence of this - rapid skill acquisition, self-taught domains, etc.
3. Target companies that value output over pedigree. Startups and scale-ups tend to care more about what you can do than where you studied. The larger and more established the company, the more the degree matters as a filtering mechanism.
The current market is tougher than 5 years ago, but the fundamental truth remains: if you can demonstrably solve problems that companies need solved, someone will pay you to do it.
The key differentiator for non-degree candidates: demonstrated results over credentials. Build something people can see - a side project, open source contribution, or portfolio piece that shows you can ship.
Three things that worked for me:
1. Start in adjacent roles. My path was athlete → operations → marketing → growth → founder. Each step built skills that compounded.
2. Over-index on learning velocity. Companies hiring non-degree candidates are betting you can learn fast. Show evidence of this - rapid skill acquisition, self-taught domains, etc.
3. Target companies that value output over pedigree. Startups and scale-ups tend to care more about what you can do than where you studied. The larger and more established the company, the more the degree matters as a filtering mechanism.
The current market is tougher than 5 years ago, but the fundamental truth remains: if you can demonstrably solve problems that companies need solved, someone will pay you to do it.
Definitely possible. Only about half of the people I've worked with have degrees in the field.
Is it really possible or I am just day dreaming?