Hey everyone! I'll be joining Amazon soon as L4 with 1.5 yoe at $185k TC and I'm a college dropout from Carnegie Mellon. Two years ago, I started FreeCodeCamp and instantly fell in love with coding, especially algorithms. Finished most of the front-end module in 4 days and realized I may have an aptitude towards coding. Immediately, I went to a coding bootcamp and it worked out. I've been studying hard for the past two years since and now I landed at Amazon (didn't make it at Google. Hopefully next time). What I want to know is, will my career slow down and will there be a ceiling I can't cross because I don't have a degree? Will I have to fight for promotion every time because I'm a dropout? I would love to finish a degree if I can find the time but that would be hard. I looked at Columbia and NYU but they don't offer a part-time CS option. I am not sure if I can take the time off. Is having a degree important in the later portion of my career? Also, I'm not talking about Bill Gates and Zuck not having degrees. I'm talking about more realistic levels. And please be brutally honest. --- Edit: Thank you very much for many encouraging replies. It is great to see that work performance is emphasized over a degree. For the next two years or so, I want to concentrate on kicking ass at Amazon and then I will look into whether I want to go back to school or continue self-studying. For the past two years, I have been working hard to fill in the missing gaps in my CS knowledge, and I will continue to do so throughout my career. I love coding and I enjoy delving into rabbit holes. For example, I'm currently reading a book on computation - https://computationbook.com and it is so exciting finally learning how computers _compute_ things. Whether I go back to school or not, I am continuing my studies just because of the simple fact that it's fun. Lastly, this quote was an inspiration for me throughout the process: “When you look at people who don’t go to school and make their way in the world, those are exceptional human beings. And we should do everything we can to find those people.” from https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-to-get-a-job-at-google.html --- Edit2: Found part-time CS undergrad at Columbia: http://bulletin.columbia.edu/general-studies/undergraduates/majors-concentrations/computer-science/. Thanks for letting me know about it. This is huge. I will start looking into it in a year or two.
You will be fine.
You need to ask yourself, is fine good enough?
If you are American Citizen and don't do any science - forget about degrees. You'd be better of spending those bucks and time on chicks and booze / guys and booze / wife and kids.
Coke and hoes
Would you be able to build an skyscraper with no foundation? I think with no school you may be able to work in tech but there will be many things that you will be weak on. Besides attending to school itself is an experience IMO
I know that I got lucky getting into the industry just by taking a React/Rails course. For the past two years, I've been working hard at catching up on all the CS fundamentals I missed out and I plan to continue studying on my own throughout my career. Also, I was at CMU for 3 years. It was indeed a fun and memorable experience.
Just read through all the textbooks that an undergrad normally would. If you know the math, then you’ll be fine. Otherwise, it may help to take some evening math courses at a local community college. When I dropped out of college, I had already taken Calculus III, and I don’t have any issues skimming through undergrad CS books.
You can do part-time at Columbia school of General studies. There was a janitor who worked at Columbia who got his bachelors by taking one class a semester for 12 years https://gs.columbia.edu/news-press?article=custodian-graduates-columbia-university-after-19-years-2012
Thanks! I'll look into that. Maybe I can get a general degree then go for OMSCS at GaTech. OMSCS would be perfect for me, but well, I need a Bachelor's first, heh.
The problem is time. In my experience if you work at FAANG there is no extra time for pursuing degrees.
A degree helps get your foot in the door. Once you are there, the rest of your success depends only on your performance
Exactly, I wouldn't worry about not having a degree. Also you can complete your degree as remote student if it matters.
Now that you have Amazon on your resume it will not hurt you. In general it would have hurt you because few companies would be ok with not having a degree. Although if you want to specialize then you can't do a MS/PhD without a a bachelor's
Should be fine, might block you if you want to move to management later in your career
You will be fine. Just make sure you always continue studying the relevant CS and Eng (Coursera, OCW, etc are amazing) topics at your own and have stuff to show off - strong company and/or strong open source back ground. I know several, including myself, on the same boat.
Thanks a ton. After seeing the responses in this thread, I think I will continue with the self-study path. I will continue taking the online courses and build myself a curriculum. Also, becoming a strong contributor for a major project sounds like a great idea. Again, thanks for clarifying the path for me.
TBH those advices are really for everyone who wants to succeed as software engineers. However because you don’t have a degree it is recommended to do that extra mile to prove yourself. At least that worked really well for me (I am a YOE 12).
I will outright reject someone who hasn’t finished college! Coding boot camp is not a substitute for a 4 year CS degree! No wonder why there’s a shortage of engineers in the US.
Would you reject someone who is generally intelligent and a decent coder, has shown for real passion for coding, has built up a solid work history with professional coding experience who made mistakes 10 years ago? I am not the greatest and smartest engineer out there, but I do consider myself competent. I think it's a shame if you reject me outright without at least talking to me and judge me by my engineering competence. Also, regarding coding bootcamps, go to LinkedIn and search for "PayPal App Academy." Plenty of graduates from a/A have worked at where you are currently at.
Degree doesn't matter as much as a willingness to learn. Although I have none 😂
No. It will not hurt your career later.
Thanks! That's great to know!
It's the opposite actually. If it was ever going to affect your career it would be when getting your first job. ( which you did, so congratulations) After your first job, the second job depends on how well you did at your first job and so on. Basically the further into your career, the less your school and degree will matter