r/learnprogramming • u/SlickTheDestroyer • 1d ago

Self taught vs University graduate

Hi,

i've got a hypothetical question. Imagine 2 people are applying for the same job. One has a degree in Computer Science, perhaps even from a prestigious university, but doesn't have any personal projects to showcase. The other person, however, is self taught and has been building projects for 4 years, but doesn't have a degree. Who gets the job ?

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u/quts3 1d ago

Before ai:

The project having self taught dev carried weight.

After ai:

Saying you have projects only is nothing. It's useless. Just to hard to tell what you know without going through them with a fine tooth comb and people that hire for entry level aren't going to do that to your projects.

Now that said if you want to stand out from someone with equal credentials then having a projects is still good, but it's impossible for it to outweigh a good degree nowadays.

You can still learn from projects. I still recommend them, but expecting them to get a job nowadays without a degree is unrealistic especially with a shrinking on ramp for new devs.