Like many others here I never did computer science. In 1970 I completed a diploma, it got me a job, during the next year I completed a degree, it got me a new job and a move to another country. I was young, alone and a long way from home and as a researcher I was allied to a university. So I did another degree, then a Masters, then another Masters. Did the degrees help? The answer is an emphatic yes. In 1970 a degree was a pretty amazing thing, few people had them, fewer went on to postgraduate study.

But none of this helped me get a job. My first job came about as the result of a friend (a photographic technicioan at the university) mentioning my hobby interest in photography to a colleague in industry. THAT got me the job. But the study and the discipline university gave me resulted in a pretty amazing career. Every time I got a new position I did not have the relevant degree, I got it afterwards! What helped every time was an interest in a field related to what I was already doing. Doing some study on my own time and impressing the appointor with my genuine interest in the subject.

I was in electronics, needed some tools for simulation of designs and structures at microwaves. So I learned the mathematics necessary and when I was looking for a new position I got a research position at a mathematics institute - did a degree and a masters there and got involved in a physics research project. So I moved to another research group and got a degree in physics.

My conclusion:

1. I can't talk about HR people, I have never been interviewed by one.
2. A qualification never got me a job, it was interest and personal study effort that got me jobs.
3. Getting a degree made each job easier.
4. The best thing I got from University was learning how to learn.
5. As an employer or appointor I have granted something of the order of 600 positions in my 30 year career. I would usually prefer a keen amateur who is dedicated to what he is doing and prepared to do the formal study than a lazy, self indulgent degree waver who may never learn another thing in his life.

jdtoronto