Ask HN: Hiring CS vs. Non-CS graduates. Bubble is getting big

1 points by shanghaisamurai 11y ago ↗ HN

I work in bay area with one of the top 3 companies. Recently, there has been increasing trend in my Org. of hiring non-CS grads over CS grads and/or experienced folks.

These non-CS grads are people coming to bay area since start-ups are making big. Many of these have degrees in management from Ivy-League, law school. Many complete fast track course from hacker school, GA and/or any other make-it-quick school.

What's your take on hiring such candidates ? I have experienced in last 2 years that these people somehow make it through interview process ( sometime in name of diversity) but lack core skills. They lack in-depth system knowledge that is necessary while writing applications.

Not sure if we are truly getting into bubble now. Unfortunately, bubble burst will affect everyone. I am part of technical interview committee along with 12 other members. On number of occasions tech committee recommendation of not to hire is overturned by HR and higher ups. I felt bad that deserving candidates ( both male and female ) were turned down in favor of these whacky-get-rich-quick one.

I know some people on HN are already part of this group so I want to be clear on couple of things. I have absolute no objection on self-learning process. I have more respect for such people. However, doing 3 month course just because Ivy-League or law school and claiming I am most deserving one is not something I appreciate.

Why tech sector keep itself shooting in the foot ?

These 3 months like school are already tried in India ( Google NIIT courses ). In long term though these candidates hurt more than producing any value.

2 comments

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smt88 11y ago ↗

I've worked with terrible developers with CS degrees and non-CS degrees. Some of them had experience, some of them didn't.

What I'll say is that, without exception, the ones without experience were terrible. No matter how smart/educated they are, junior devs need mentorship and code review.

If these people are consistently turning out bad code, start documenting it. Keep track of how much time is being wasted on them.

I'm strongly in favor of over-paying awesome people rather than under-paying an army of unskilled people.

seyfulislam 11y ago ↗

Depends on their duties. A non-cs grad can be good at scripting and coding straightforward things, but when it comes to tweaking/debugging low level parts they probably lack some knowledge on OS courses as it is a little bit hard for a self-learner to grasp.