Hacker News Reader

Comment by hodgesmr | Hacker News Reader

Getting a degree can only help your chances of getting hired. You're right, many employers see that you don't have a degree and immediately throw your application out--no matter how unjust that might be.

Never count on the employer to follow up or get back to you. That is your job. Send your own follow up emails. It makes you stand out.

Don't be so sure that you won't use Java/C#. You never know where your career will take you.

Computer Science is not about learning languages, it's about learning concepts. You will gain a lot of knowledge in a CS program that is language agnostic.

View on HN

That's true, I do try to follow up every potential job, but even if I email them multiple times, I still never hear back. There's been a few jobs that I've rung up to ask if they have received my application, and I still never hear back.

The problem going through job sites (which I hate) is that you can never find the actual email address so it's kinda hard to follow up on potential jobs.

But I do see what you mean when it comes down to concepts. I still can't see myself using Java/C# however. I've never owned a Windows machine before and I'm interested in websites and web apps opposed to desktop apps, so I can most likely get away without using Java/C#.

Sure. But let's say you want to get in to enterprise development. Almost every large company out there has an IBM (Java) or Microsoft (C#) stack on their backend. And yes, I'm talking about for web apps.

Despite what HN would have you believe, most of the big guys aren't using Rails or Node.

Yea I get you, but honestly I have no desire to get into enterprise stuff and work for a large firm. I would much rather prefer working for a startup or a smaller more creative company.

I really just want to get some cash flowing in so I can invest them in my own ideas and hopefully one day start my own startup if the opportunity arises.

It's a lot easier to be picky once you have a degree and a few years of experience under your belt and some money saved up.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com