+ - Ask Slashdot: Getting a tech job with skills but no formal degree 3
Submitted
by
fmatthew5876
fmatthew5876 writes "I have a friend who graduated with a degree in philosophy and sociology. He has been spending a lot of his spare time for the last couple years learning system administration and web development. He has setup web servers, database servers, web proxies and more. He has taught himself php, mysql, and how to use Linux and openBSD without any formal education. I believe that if given the chance with an entry level position somewhere and a good mentor he could really be a great unix admin but the problem is that he doesn't have a degree in computer science or any related field. He is doing stuff now that a lot of people I graduated with (I was a CS major) could not do when they had a bachelors degree.
Do you all have any advice on what my friend could do to build up his resume and find a job? I know a lot of people think certifications are pretty useless or even harmful, but in his case do you think it would be a good idea? Thank you all very much!"
Do you all have any advice on what my friend could do to build up his resume and find a job? I know a lot of people think certifications are pretty useless or even harmful, but in his case do you think it would be a good idea? Thank you all very much!"
going through this route myself (Score:2)
I'm actually going through this right now, personally. Not as experienced, but same kind of issue. You basically are going to have an extremely high wall to climb - any company that has a bias towards degrees is going to have a bias against his person, even if they do better at the same job.
So it's going to be an issue of getting into a situation where you can prove your skills. For me, that process took almost 2.5 years.
Using Dice is still a good idea, though.
Tough Road (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)