Comment by shanelja | Hacker News Reader

Comment by shanelja | Hacker News Reader

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No, I did not do my A-levels, instead I spent 2 1/2 years travelling Europe and coding on the go, worked on numerous projects, many of which are still live now, took part in over 40 freelance projects and once I came back landed a job fairly quickly.

I don't understand the assumption that all people who didn't go in to education don't understand the fundamentals of computer science, when in reality, most university lectures on the subject matter are available (and have been watched by me) online.

Your average university student spends probably less than 10 hours per week actively studying (I have no figures to back this up), I code full time, all day every day, then I bring my passion to my home and code late in to the night. Which would you honestly rather have as an employee? The university graduate with 3 years of boozing behind him, or the programmer with 3 years of experience and references behind him?

I don't want to go to university, in my opinion, it would be a step backwards.

Well, in general the hiring manager has himself graduated from University and therefore thinks that if you haven't graduated from University as well, you can't be smart.

Also there is some theory saying that to graduate from University, you have to be smart, and therefore smart people go to University to distinguish themselves.

I don't agree with everything, but I am sure that's how people in position to make hiring decision tend to think in general, especially if they haven't seen your code.

I would be more than willing to code for them on the spot (or even for free over the course of a week) - but I do however agree, there seems to be some prevalent notion that the only intelligent people in the world are those who went to university, which has some credibility to it, mostly, spending years studying does improve your mental capabilities and most mentally challenging fields require some level of further education, but I don't see why it has to be so, I understand that these companies prefer to hire someone who has gone to university, but the rudeness I have faced so far (95% of the companies I apply for never call me back) is more befitting of a bully, than of an 'educated' person who should know better.

University graduate might have much higher potential to learn(and get teached), while solo coder hero may not be able to learn anything other than he wants to. Graduates are used to being teached and that's what many employers expect from them, they want you to absorb some not so cool knowledge and get used to it without any questions.

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