

Ask HN: when you're hiring, how important is a MS/Ph.D? - dzlobin

As someone who is graduating fairly  soon, I was curious how important employers think it is for someone they hire to have that graduate degree. If the candidate was, let's say, 24, good hacker, a (possibly failed) startup under his belt, would the lack of a graduate degree matter?
======
Tangurena
At our tiny branch of a division of a subsidiary of a large fortune 500 corp,
a degree is neither a hinderance nor a help for technical staff. At higher
levels, management staff can't get promoted without a masters degree in a
business field (usually an MBA, but I'm working on a masters in accounting as
an alternative to an MBA). So this means that one needs the masters in
business-ish degree by the time one is a manager with the actual worker bees
being 3 levels beneath one. Years ago, when I worked at the large bankrupt car
company, at the division I worked for, one needed a masters before getting
promoted from first line manager (where the people that did the actual work
were 1 level beneath oneself).

We don't get to see resumes until after HR has screened them for buzzword
compliance. Prior to the absolute hiring freeze, we didn't see too many
programmers with a degree at all.

------
timwiseman
First, it clearly depends on the position and organization. Some (especially
when dealing with the government or large organization) will require it.

With that said, for the mid-level developpers I have personally been involved
in interviewing, I find it to be a positive mark but hardly decisive. I have
personally always given an interview to someone with a master's degree on
their resume.

Of course, more than one of those people with masters did poorly in the
interview, while I have also seen people with no degree at all do very well.

So in short, I think that a master's will normally help you get an interview,
but rarely play much of a role in actually getting the job.

------
icey
I personally look at any degree information last. Sometimes it figures more
prominently; like if someone had a grad degree from MIT for example.
Otherwise, I'd much rather have someone that I think can write software well
over someone that can write papers well.

------
newsdog
I think getting a masters really separates the wheat from the chaff, education
wise.

It's part of an elite.

