
How do you get a job without a college degree? - fffrad
I understand that the experience you have is more important, but the problem is getting filtered out before you get the chance to talk to someone.<p>Some HR department filters out the resumes of degree-less candidates. How do you get pass this road block?
======
anaskar
What kind of companies are you trying to work at? I totally feel your pain. In
fact many ATS's (Applicant Tracking Systems) often bounce 50% of applications
without a human even looking at the app.

Hiring is hard on both sides. Many companies (understandably) need some way of
filtering. That's why you shouldn't apply online or through job portals =)

The CTO of Stripe talks here about how he built a great eng team:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zoq085zVhA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zoq085zVhA)

you can see that most are referrals vs. in-bound leads, with other channels in
between.

What I'm getting at is that regardless of industry, you should do some of the
following:

\- contribute to the field you're applying to in other ways. Write articles,
do side projects, etc. This will build up your reputation and experience in
ways that a company can substitute a degree for.

\- find people in the field and talk to them about what they're doing and what
they'd find most helpful to study up on.

\- take an internship or research position

\- find people at LinkedIn who work at the company and meet up for coffee.
Companies are definitely more amenable these days to hiring non-degree
candidates but HR might be a bit behind the times. If you can demonstrate to
hiring managers directly in-person that you're qualified, you can bypass a lot
of these issues

\- apply to startups / smaller companies. it's more of a meritocracy for sure
and HR tends to be more hands-on.

good luck!

~~~
fffrad
I last worked for a large company, I probably slipped through the cracks. But
everyone hired after me were from big name schools.

Thanks for the advice. Since I am trying to find a new field, I will look more
toward internships.

------
smt88
Even if you get hired somewhere, most companies will stop you from rising
without a degree.

Financially stability is important, but you should also look into getting some
sort of degree.

------
kjs3
Build business networks and relationships that allow you to bypass the HR
filter. A hiring manager or current employee who recommends HR talk to someone
carries weight.

