As a soon-to-be college graduate (as of this June), I am especially curious about this. I majored in Psychology, and did a lot of stuff with abstract math, but have limited formal CS training - yet it seems that's exactly what companies want. I don't get it. I've been coding for fun for over 12 years (e.g., BASIC, C++, perl, PHP), one of my projects even successfully scaled and got acquired, but it's hard to find employment. And besides doing my own start-up, I really would love to code for a living!
Should I go get a Master's in CS? Spend time this summer working through SICP, and then an algorithms book (I took Discrete for fun, as an elective), and then something else?
"I've been coding for fun for over 12 years (e.g., BASIC, C++, perl, PHP), one of my projects even successfully scaled and got acquired, but it's hard to find employment."
You're looking in the wrong places.
You're already ahead of 90% of the programmers I've ever met. You obviously have aptitude, competence, and most importantly, passion. All you need is to take your Positive Mental Attitude and get more real work experience, either with your employer's customers or your own.
Many here would disagree with me, but credentials are highly overrated. They're everywhere. What's most scarce is demonstrated performance developing and deploying successful applications for real world customers. Why waste your time padding paperwork with "titles" when you can pad yourself (and the rest of the world) with good software.
Get creative and find some customers (your own or through employment). Talk to anyone you know. Try something different and get your software written and out there.
And try to surround yourself with other developers who share that passion and drive. Nothing kills motivation than working with folks who view software development as an easy paycheck.
It's pretty easy for an HR person to weed you out because of your degree. Talk to actual engineers you know in the industry. If they think you can cut it, I'm sure they'll be happy to pass your credentials and a recommendation on to a hiring manager.
The masters in CS can't hurt either; you just need to decide how you want to spend your time.
I agree. After you get your first job and get some experience you'll be good. It's just finding a way to get past HR. They just look at credentials and may ignore your unconventional interest in programming. Don't worry though, after that first job you are good. Recent experience and your reputation in the industry will outweigh your undergrad degree.
The CS degree won't hurt but I would only do it if you already had research in mind that you wanted to pursue. That seems to be the key to enjoying grad school - chasing your passion and interests.
If possible, get into a PhD program rather than a master's and quit after two years. Then you get your master's for free.
Also, right now the job market is particularly bad. Around 3/4 of companies have a hiring freeze. So don't necessarily blame your own resume when you are wondering why it's tough to get a job.
My recommendation is not to worry too much about the psychology major per se. Just make sure to list computer classes that you've taken and achievements that you've made in your resume (I always included an Achievements section in my resume).
I have a psychology major from UCLA and it never stopped me from getting an interview or a job. Although every single interview, I had to explain about my computer experience.
Once it was clear that I was technical, the psychology major became a nonissue.
Independent of all this, I would encourage you to get a masters in computer science. The more deeply you understand CS, algorithms, etc., the better you'll do as a candidate.
One suggestion that no one else has mentioned is take a job at below average pay. I mean so little that you know for sure you're a good deal.
I got my first real programming job back in '04 (with no degree) asking for about half what everyone else was making (I didn't have any idea what I should ask for). Within a year and a half I was at a jr. level pay and was able to move on to a much better salary.
Your best bet is to go after companies where developers do the hiring.
To a recruiter who isn't a developer, your resume doesn't conform to the parameters they know to look for. They're not in a position to judge whether your non-academic experience qualifies you for the positions they're responsible for fulling.
To a developer who's tired of putting up with halfhearted graduates, and/or those who need a lot of hand-holding, your resume will likely jump off the page.
Where are you most likely to find companies where developers do the hiring? The smaller the company, generally, the better the odds.
I agree with your sentiment regarding halfhearted graduates 100%. I've been a professional developer for about 4 years now and have been on the interviewer side of the table for about the past 18 months. The sheer number of crappy engineers that end up with CS degrees is astounding. I'm talking about freshly minted CS grads that can't even get past your run of the mill fizzbuzz test, much less get into anything really challenging.
For zackattack, hobby programming doesn't really count on resumes so it won't get you past the HR drones. Whatever time you spent on your project that was eventually acquired certainly counts as professional experience though, so you should include that prominently on whatever you are sending out to people. That being said, if you really know what you're doing it will be immediately obvious and appreciated during any technical interviews. Smart developers know when they are talking to other smart developers. Good luck!
Should I go get a Master's in CS? Spend time this summer working through SICP, and then an algorithms book (I took Discrete for fun, as an elective), and then something else?
Any advice would be much, much appreciated.