Is it possible to get an IT job without degree?

I don't know what else I can do, IT seems good. I've programmed for quite a bit now. I'm interested in stuff that requires masters such as ML/AI and data science but I enjoy web development and stuff too. I don't know the world and it's opportunitites. Biotechnology research sounds very interesting but I'm a nobody atm.

I started at 18 years old back in 2011. I started out as doing basic data entry for $16/hr through a temp agency. As time went on I learned more and more, became an auditor, etc.

I had nothing on my resume, but if I could go back...I would lie...it's so easy to fake it when you reach the point of not giving a fuck.

Nice one

>temp agencies
got it, cool, hadn't thought of that for some reason

what would you lie about having?

Experience at similar position (or any other proof that you are not dead weight/idiot/psychopath) and/or portfolio in case of programmers and designers.

Notable exceptions: banks, gov contractors, many consultancies (mid-tier and above), companies who have no idea about programming, some startups and specialized companies that do hard stuff that actually requires deep CS/math understanding.

It is possible to get a job without a degree, even as a programmer, but be ready to grind, to get up to level. It could be easier to start from entry level testing/QA/pm assistant position than going for programming from the start, but it can make switching to better paid programming position harder, especially if you are changing the company at the same time.

Try to avoid paid bootcamps (they have very bad opinion in the industry). Look for companies hiring juniors/amateurs: organizing trainings and openly advertising they are hiring people with small experience.

Prepare some personally created programs and an explanation why it is not the lack of IQ that you avoid going to collage and what are you doing instead to acquire knowledge necessary for the job...

Considering tech changes incredibly rapidly an IT degree is fucking worthless.
Start your own company. The only skills you need are the ability to perform fast research on google

*Look for entry-level Helpdesk roles
*Work your way up once hired

It's easy as fuck.

1. Help desk is always hiring.
2. A good resume is good, if not lie.
3. If you're going to lie, at least have an understanding and do a homelab.

I have no degree, worked for Facebook, Microsoft and interviewed several time for Google but they're cocks and don't allow remote work.

This is of course my hobby though, so it's different.

And no, I'm not a SWE/Programmer. I'm more sysadmin/solutions architect now. e.g. bullshit artist.

Bootcamps are trash, but they will help you give you a foundation if you have none because you learn through someones guided behavior.

Udemy/Udacity shit is fucking boring af. Nano degrees aren't worth it unless free.

I worked for a health insurance company, never had to talk to anyone. So, let's say you want to work for a health insurance company. What kind of work? Use indeed or some job board to find those positions...do some research on the tasks, develop your resume around those skillsets. Guarantee your skillset isn't transferrable to another company anyway, they just want someone who is familiar.

So, for example, if you're in the US and want to work in claims, you'll want to know what a UB-04 and CMS1500 forms are. (This also lets you work for hospitals and private offices). Know the difference between medicare and medicaid are. If you can take a 6 month or 1 yr cert program in medical coding, you're golden.

Luckily my parents allow me another chance and degree here is practically free. I think I'll enroll study like a crazed animal and use all my free time to land a sick position somewhere before graduation. Of course all the while I'll be watching for opportunities eg. crypto, own business.

Ive been a dreamer, I think you might be a dreamer too. I made lots of mistakes to learn that it takes extreme hard work to achieve good things in life. Trust me google isn't enough. I recently had a wakeup call.

Thank you guys, but I know crypto will be back. I made some good money but hardly enough for anything. We're ready for another round aren't we? I suspect 2019 or early 2020. Let's fucking do it.

I got an info sys degree OP at my school it was part of the business program so if I didn’t feel like doing IT I could have done any office drone work. Don’t listen to anons that say a degree is useless they are typically trade fags or people too stupid for school. HR people almost have to see a degree to get you into anything but sales

Don't get me wrong I understand getting a degree is a huge investment (and a pain in the ass). Here in EU collages are mandated to publish ECTS sheets for all courses taught, containing the "why and how" of the material, together with per-requirements and list of handbooks. Look around, I suspect even in states Computer Science/Software Engineering will have similar info published somewhere. It's not about getting the "paper" or even learning about category theory, but trust me you do not want to be the guy who only ever uses "while" loops, because he read some blogpost that they are faster... even if you have to self study that material.

What do you mean? Are you saying degree is important or that it's not mandatory because self study is good when done correctly (learning the topics universities teach etc. instead of thenewboston yt series)?

This is just blatantly wrong. Spreading the false delusion you use to feel better about your lack of a degree isn’t going to help you feel any better. The fact is the majority of IT work is abstract and the same abstract proofs and algorithms used 30-50 years ago are still relevant today. Unless you’re talking about being a code monkey or plugging an Ethernet cord into a router. Either way your post shows your lack of IQ

I have a job in Tech and do not have a 4 year degree. I taught myself for the most part and then attended a bootcamp(for the resume). I got a job before the bootcamp was finished.

My employer hired me as an intern and eventually brought me on full time. You can teach yourself just about anything in the tech field. Then apply for any internship (mine was paid, as are many) and take whichever you're accepted to. Show them you want more than an internship or a job and that you want to pursue a CAREER in tech. Do this by working your best everyday. By this I don't mean over-achieving or being THE go-getter. People want to see a body more than anything, so as long as you show up to the job everyday on the schedule they ask you'll have completed the first 1/2.

Tech people use google too. I haven't met a single programmer that can code without eventually referring to google. This means that most places DO NOT expect you to know everything there is to know about your field. I have sat in on a handful of interviews and know that my team prefers for interviewees to ask questions as if the interviewers were google. This is more to see how the candidate thinks, if the employers can work with the candidate and the candidate's willingness to learn more than a test of knowledge. So, ask genuine questions!

If you do this to the best of your ability I'm sure they'll either bring you on or push you in the right direction. Whats great about tech is that everyone is, for the most part, extremely awkward, nerdy and as a consequence pretty cool and chill. There will always be someone that is just a little more awkward than you so you don't need to feel like some social outcast. It's great, one of your interests will line up with one's of those around you and you're bound to find friends.

This is based off of my experience with a tech company in Denver. Your experience may differ if your looking for the private sector e.g. law firms & businesses...

Thank you so much for this info mate.

Np. By cool and chill I should've been more specific. I meant that for the most part people in tech are pretty helpful. I think there's still a stigma attached to tech that only genius cut-throats can have careers in tech. That's probably true to be a CEO of a multi-billion dollar company but not for the average person making a decent living in tech.

Only after being in tech did I meet a couple of people who basically told me the same thing. One of the guys is in his 50's but started by teaching himself and is by no means a genius. He got hired into a startup that was acquired back in the 90's and he made a ton off of options. Only after selling his options did he go back to school to get his CS degree, but that was because he wanted to. He told me it was a lot about luck and that this industry is still developing.

It's attainable if you want it. Lots of helpful people out there, regardless of what people may think, and lots of free resources.

Best of luck.

There are many people without CS degree, with other meme degree or even without any degree getting jobs in software industry right now. Degree is not mandatory, but can be huge boost not only in terms of "raw" knowledge - you can also acquire some contacts there and having someone more experienced who can not only tell you where are you wrong, but even diagnose the whole thought process and upgrade the way you approach problems can be life changing. It's not the only way to get that value, but it's a solid and proven package.

What I mean by my comment was: even if you will not go to collage you somehow have to get at least the knowledge (and preferably other benefits too) in some other way on your own. You don't strictly need it - there are plenty of bad coders in any big company - and there are lots of simple jobs of plugging existing components into existing frameworks (not saying it's "bad", sometimes it all that is needed) that require just basic intelligence. If just having job is all you need and have other thing going in your life then it's OK, but if you care either about craft, mastery or simply getting more money and better opportunities then you absolutely have to grasp the advanced concepts taught at collage, with or without attending one.

Also the coworkers will point fingers at you: this is the guy who doesn't know what "parser" is...

I didn't expect to get this much helpful feedback on Jow Forums after seeing all the shit during the bullrun but I'm pleasantly surprised. Thank you very much.

OK old man. I make over $250k a year self employed never once been asked for a degree or credentials. If you can do it you can do it

>has to bring earnings into the picture because the statement you’re defending is quite obviously false
>also thinks saying you make X on a Chinese mensuration board means anything

Boy it must be fun to be this stupid and insecure

I got an IT job without a degree but it's just help desk. Pays ok though.

OP I have shit all education and I made it to Security Analyst in 5 years.

Degrees mean fuck all, in fact, my manager won't look at you twice unless you've got a masters in comp sci or some shit. Forget any shadow-neet degree like fucking lib arts and psycology or whatever, those people are worse than burger flippers.

Those degrees are probably the worst because it shows you're dumb enough to get those degrees.

What the fuck is that pic

Death bed. The moment you realize you did nothing your entire life but browse forums and watch yt, twitch and porn. All of this one second before your last breath.

Dude, i felt something inside. Stop it.

Read the title of the thread retard.
Yes, it is possible to get an IT job without a degree. If you're gonna tell him no then ur in the wrong

He was replaying to "degree is fucking useless" which is not the same as "you can get a job without one".

For an IT job I will still say it's useless. It may get you in the door, it may get you the job but you're going to be learning nonstop to keep up with current tech anyways. If you are on the science or math end of things the degree may come in handy but the bottom line is anything someone wishes to learn can be learned for free on the internet. For an IT job especially an entry level one, useless and if your boss needs to see one over you being able to demonstrate your abilities I wouldn't take that job.

Again, being able to get the job without a degree is not the same as degree being useless as it can push you forward even in a job that don't require the degree.

Incidentally here I am rewriting 13k lines of stored procedures, the one that created them in the first place did not had the degree and still got the job. If he had the degree he would be aware that there are other options that storing every thing in a one global namespace, or that certain thing are better passed as arguments... On the other hand if I wasn't familiar with some collage grade material I would be rewriting it by hand completely unaware of things like refactorization tools. It's not that those things can't be googled, but without having a certain background it's hard to notice that they even can be googled. You don't go to collage to memorize 30y old graph theory result, but to be aware that it exist and have basic grasp of terminology to use in the query to find it or choose among alternatives or even notice that the problem can be solved with graphs in the first place.... This can can be learned without formal degree and as you point out have to be expanded and refined on your own as the industry evolves. What collage gives you here is large chunk of material that gives you both solid foundation and wide perspective. Sure it's not necessary to get and even prosper at the job, but it's not useless.

I agree that mandatory "show me the paper" is stupid in most of cases and I'm aware of whole other side of this debate where industry folks point out how unprepared in knowledge of current industry standards and general communication fresh graduates are, but that still doesn't invalidate that things taught in collage can be useful on the job.

Now, getting a degree just to get a job is misguided.

A friend of mine has been working as a full stack software developer for years, has no degree.

But he also works/programs like 12+ hours a day so. If you get into IT you need to keep in mind what your competition is like. If you think you can autistically focus on one single thing for 12+ hours a day every day then it's the right career for you.

What type of IT work? I have an unrelated bachelor's, hates it so I did a bootcamp. ~10k investment but after 3 mos looking for a job make 28/hr