Self-taught developers, do you explicitly state 'self-taught' on your resume? | Hacker News Reader

Self-taught developers, do you explicitly state 'self-taught' on your resume?

On the one hand I can see how it'd generally be inferred by employers from the lack of a degree mention, but in that case do you omit the 'education' section entirely? I'm in a slightly weird position because I'll be applying with an internship on my resume which probably implies that I studied a CS degree to some extent?

I'm wondering if there's any merit to including a brief list of books/courses I've studied (a sort of 'self taught using the following resources' section) - I think I have seen this suggested elsewhere, but I want to get HN's opinion / sanity check.

View on HN

If you have a college degree, list that but not your major. If you have no degree, omit the section.

The goal is to avoid including anything that would give them an excuse to reject you without speaking to you.

If you don’t state anything about your education, many employers will assume you went to college but left it off your resume for the sake of brevity.

If you say you have a bachelors but not in what, many will assume it’s something relevant to your field.

All the better for you. You’re not being untruthful. You’re just being careful about what first impression you give.

Once you’re in the interview room, if they have questions about your background, you’re in a much better position to explain why you’re just as capable and more effective than someone who has a bachelors in computer science.

Personally I include the education section since I have an education despite that it is in a completely different field (technical construction). The reason being that it is showing commitment in those early years. I also include my mandatory military service as the first item under work experience even if I at this time leave out things between as an aggregate, as that implies a willingness to show deference to authority (something that is rarely talked about publicly but incredibly appreciated by management and by extension the readers of CVs).

Hope that helps.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com