Ask HN: Why would you choose a certified self-taught candidate over a graduated? - JulienRbrt
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sbinthree
Having a degree in computer science does not necessarily mean someone can
program, so you have to test their skills. Being self taught does not
necessarily imply someone is better, but it might imply their interest took
hold at an age where being taught to program was less of an option. These days
kids are learning to program to a degree, but even someone in their 20s now is
less likely to have been programming as a child. So someone who has been
programming since childhood, but didn't have a degree, might (or, maybe likely
is?) a better programmer than someone with a computer science degree and
little to no experience.

~~~
JulienRbrt
Interesting point of view, but is it only related to the Computer Science
Engineering field?

~~~
bausshf
Not necessarily, but Computer Science is one of those fields that you can
easily be self taught without many physical resources. In fact you mostly only
need a computer and the internet, which most people do have.

It's different from a kid learning to become a mechanic. They'd need far more
resources for that.

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chrisbennet
Good developers are self learners (autodidactics). You don’t get to be good by
skating by on whatever you learned in school - you need to be continually
learning.

I have a degree but I taught myself after my first programming class. My
wife’s dad got her started on a little computer and she took it from there.

Certifications in programming seem like a way to separate people from their
money. It might even mark you as an amateur as I’ve never met a real developer
(to my knowledge) with a certificate with the exception one software P.E. [1]

[1] P.E. = professional engineer. [https://ncees.org/ncees-discontinuing-pe-
software-engineerin...](https://ncees.org/ncees-discontinuing-pe-software-
engineering-exam/)

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cimmanom
Certifications are pretty useless. But self-taught developers are awesome (if
they have some evidence that they're capable; past projects are a good
indicator). They're typically self-motivated and fast learners, which are
great qualities in an employee.

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mindcrime
I would chose the person who convinced me they were most talented / qualified.
How they got their education and what pieces of paper they have is mostly
irrelevant.

Having a degree is a signal, of something, but I'd argue that it's a pretty
weak signal of "is competent at programming". Likewise for industry
certifications... they _are_ a signal, but a weak signal.

Note also that this whole setup is a false dichotomy... plenty of programmers
are a mix of college educated _and_ self-taught, and may also have one or more
industry certifications.

Looking at myself as an example... I have three college degrees (although I
never finished my C.S. bachelors), but I consider myself more self-taught than
formally educated. I also have 2 of the old Sun era Java certifications. And I
have found that this sort of combination isn't uncommon. _shrug_

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andrewmcwatters
I care about people who can get the job done. Having a degree doesn't prove to
me that you can. Showing me a catalogue of open-source contributions is a much
more powerful suggestion that you can work on software and document it for
others for consumption.

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stargrazer
There is a hybrid response here. Those who are self-taught may not be aware of
various algorithms or techniques for handling certain scenarios.

Self taught may have fundamental skill sets, but there is benefit in having
some sort of educational background which introduces one to some of the more
complicated aspects of application design and implementation.

It is that, or being a voracious reader of technical books and being a
conference goer, ... ie, basically somehow being able to keep track of and
understand the goings-on of current paradigms.

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itronitron
self-taught candidates are typically self-motivated and have strong interests,
graduates may have those qualities as well, or they may have had it beat out
of them in the course of their studies

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botten
I wouldn’t.

