Google, Apple Do Not Require A Computer Science Degree Anymore

“Wait what ? I need to tell my parents that I am dropping out of college”. This must be the first response of many of you after you came to know about this ‘NO DEGREE BUT GET A JOB’ at the tech giants. Before you get any more hyper and follow on the footsteps of your idol Mark Zuckerberg to build the next Facebook or NotFacebook (or whatever you may call it), just read following post to find out more and what you should do.

So, most students who want to work in the IT industry or on a clearer note those who want to become a Programmer/ Software Developers follow some certain steps to fulfill their Silicon Valley Dream. More often the steps look something like this:

• Go to school and get good grades.

• Enroll in a Computer Science Degree program in a reputed college.

• Get a good GPA and CS degree.

• Slide the CS degree under the door of Google.

Ok, I know it’s are not that simple but you get the rough idea. Right? In the past few years some companies had already announced that they do not require a college degree for students to join their companies. But tech giants like Google and Apple joining the list is a big news for many.

Recently, Glassdoor compiled a list of such companies which included Google, Apple and IBM among 12 others.

So, what does all of this mean? Can you just not go to college and get your foot in Apple or IBM. Actually, it is a bit more complicated than that. Many students go to college to get a degree and the soaring college fees that they have to pay does not make it any easier for them. Many even get into a pretty bad debt situation to get the degree not even knowing for sure whether they will get a good paying job after college or not.

Then comes the part where talent and self education play an important role. In the recent years the so called ‘Self Taught Developers/Programmers’ are on the rise and the truth is that they are just as good as any college graduate with a degree. They just did not get the right opportunity or maybe financial help to go to college. But that did not stop them from learning to code on their own.

Also Ananth Kasturiraman, Co-Founder and CEO of Skillist said something regarding this and I am paraphrasing:

Many companies have job openings for entry level jobs. But they also rely heavily on candidates with a college degree. Due to this many talented people get left out and millions of jobs remain unfulfilled. This is known as “degree inflation” which is bad for any business. 

Also many workers have the right talent but they get overlooked because of not having a degree.

These are only some of the reasons among the many which are leading big companies to ditch the college degree. So, what is the conclusion now? Should you just drop out of college? Is a college degree totally worthless?

First of all, as an answer to the last question, no, a college degree is not worthless. Anyone with a college degree will have the domain knowledge as well as good people skills which will make it a bit easier for him to get settled in a new job fast. Secondly, I am not saying that self learners are not good at people skills, many are and many aren’t. It’s that simple.

Now, finally, should you drop out of college or if you are not yet in college should you really consider learning on your own? That really depends. Do you like a more social environment to gain knowledge ans also money is not a problem for you? If the answer is yes, then surely go the college route. But if you think that going to college can land you in a huge debt, then you should know that there are other opportunities where you can learn and get a job for sure without a college degree. And if you are graduating in a year or so, then dropping out now is meaningless. Better take the news with a grain of salt and try to improve yourself everyday.

So, on a final note here, the choice is totally yours and just take wise decisions.

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