I am a senior in college pursuing a Major in Music, and Minors in Computer Science in Business. I learned earlier this week about a glitch in my degree planner, making it so I might not be able to complete my computer science minor upon graduation. I’m extremely sad about this because I have been dedicated to learning programming through Codecademy and school this entire year, and have dedicated the better part of every day to self-improvement and practice.
I’m trying to figure out what my options are for searching for a software engineering position without a computer science minor. By the time I graduate, I’ll have a strong foundation in Data Structures and Algorithms in Java and Python, but not really any of the “bells and whistles”. I’m looking into taking Discrete Structures and Software Engineering in the Spring, but am unsure of what is to come of the minor.
Does anyone have experience getting a job with pure skill, instead of a degree or other formal credential? I’m looking to plan my winter break well so I can get ahead of the curve and build up my skills more in case I’ll be applying to jobs with no related degree.
Do you have a website that features work that you’ve done/things you’ve built? Is that on your LinkedIn profile (or whatever job profile site you use) and your resume?
I think what’s important to potential employers is to see what prospective employees have built. I can’t say with 100% certainty that one needs a CS degree to get a job as an engineer. In my experience I’ve known and worked with many engineers and not all of them had CS degrees (undergrad or grad). In addition to soft skills, I think what matters is what you’ve built and that you can show that you know how to think computationally.
Not sure where you are in the world but what about an apprenticeship? It is an option that seems to always be over looked when I see this question come up. Not sure if that is because they don’t really exist for programming jobs in many countries or if people just aren’t aware of them.
All I know is, if you go for a job without a degree or any commercial experience you will be against people who have commercial experience and maybe a degree, even if going for a junior position. So you are going to have a hard time even getting an interview. An apprenticeship the competition you’re against should be more even.
Some companies won’t look at your application if you don’t have a degree, you need to be patient and send an application to any job you find interesting.