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Ask HN: Can you get a job at Google without a degree?

11 points by peterchon ↗ HN
I believe I'm a great designer/developer who just happens to be without a college degree.

I would love to be able to work at a wonderful company like google, but I feel like I will never be seen as a potential candidate. Is this true?

12 comments

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wmf
For the normal hiring process you are probably right. Try an acqui-hire.
seiji
They will often make you re-interview for your own job as a pretense to remove people without degrees.
wmf
To be more specific, I meant as a founder so it's you that they're acqui-hiring.
yetantherhacker
You might focus on trying to get any job at such a company, and then be really proactive about showing off your designer/developer skills. I knew an Apple retail employee without any college education who landed an engineering job in Cupertino through an internal talent program.

You might also consider looking at startups or incubators. They tend to be less interested in credentials and more interested in ability to execute than some of the larger companies.

So, it's possible, but I would agree with the other poster that trying to stand out among a normal application pool would be really difficult.

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whichdan
Have you tried reading sample interview questions?
proexploit
It might not be easy but some serious skills can trump a required college degree in my opinion. You don't have an email in your profile but feel free to shoot me some links to some of your work and a little bit about yourself and we can chat. (I'm a frontend dev without a degree at Google)
codeonfire
You probably can, but consider that you will be competing against probably 20 other people if Google hires 1 out of 20 interviewed. This is just based on rough estimates,but: Ten will have a BS, five will have a MS, and one or two will have a phd. keep in mind this is if you get an interview. Everyone will be afraid of looking bad if they hire a dummy. What would you do?
Sharma
You can for sure.But because you don't have a degree you will have to take a differet path. Prove you are what you say(great designer/developer etc..) Build your portfolio, make online repo and then get in touch with google,amazon,facebook,apple recruiters.All the best.
logn
I'd recommend setting your sights on a small company. Once you get good experience, education is less important. The problem I see coming though is that you work at X company for say 3 years. You're going to have a hard time coming up with references since they're all employees at your current company. So do whatever you can to develop meaningful references.

I'd also go to a market with a ton of jobs, such as the Bay Area. It's a numbers game. Eventually, if you're smart, someone will hire you.

orangethirty
Why do you want to work at Google? This is a serious question.