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Can I work as a software developer without a degree?

1 points by craftoman ↗ HN
I'm 27 years old from Europe, I love technology especially Linux and Im programming since I was 16. I never had a chance to go to college but I've worked in the past as a local freelancer and technical. I have master some tools and systems like Linux, web servers, Docker, Angular, Nodejs, JavaScript, Mongodb, MySQL but I dont have enough experience and a CS degree. Is there any chance to succeed if I lunch 3-4 big projects and keep dreaming till one day a company out of nowhere hire me or should I just give up and switch to something more "handy" and be another underpaid worker?

7 comments

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gregjor
Yes, lots of programmers don’t have degrees.
calderaro
i work as developer with mainly with nodejs, mongodb, mysql, reactjs and i dont have a degree. Most of the developers i know have no degree either. Have a degree is a really good plus for interviews but is not required.
locococo
I was in the same boat as you, just a couple years older, and decided to attend university to get my bachelors in CS. Mind you I was working in the field already and making good money. I discovered that not having the degree meant I had knowledge gaps in a lot of areas. The popular opinion is that you can learn everything online and degrees are entirely useless. In my opinion going back to university to get the degree was the best decision I ever made.
akulbe
Apply for jobs anyways. Don't wait until you "check all the boxes."

One thing that may help is to put up repos of stuff you've worked on, on GitHub.

Contribute to open source projects that align with things you're interested in.

The key to getting work at more and more places, it's not whether or not you have a degree... it's being able to demonstrate that you know what you're doing.

craftoman
Yeah that's exactly what I'm doing right now. I put myself in an endless learning loop just to "check" every box. I jump from one tool/system to another and try to master everything before start applying to any IT job.
alsoicode
I'm a Technical Fellow at a company with over 15k employees in the medical testing industry.

I began programming on a Tandy TRS-80, but today I primarily work in Angular, Node and TypeScript.

I have no formal training.

So yes, with the right experience for the role, you don't need a degree.

When I'm interviewing candidates, the last thing I care about is their degree.

I want to know what their passion is, how they approach solving problems, etc.

Regardless of whether you're self-taught, being able to demonstrate your work on Github or a personal site is an absolute must.

Experience takes time to acquire. Be patient. Work on and learn what you want to be doing in your spare time. That will pay off faster than anything.