Is a Degree Needed to Become a Programmer?
The IT market is experiencing a period of rapid growth. Under analysts from IDC, the profit turnover of funds in the information technology sector worldwide will increase by 5.6% during 2022. And the analysts expect a similar amount of annual growth over the next five years. The trend initiated the increase in the popularity of IT professions, especially coding. Some people are even ready to change their current job with a high salary to a coding specialty. Therefore, the question of how to become a programmer without a degree is more relevant today than ever.
Many future IT specialists are educated in particular courses. Such a type of training frequently takes place in an online format. In addition, students commonly use specialized sites to get programming homework help when difficulties arise. Experts advise choosing reputable online platforms for such purposes (for example, programmingassignment.net). Such online resources offer qualitative assistance at an affordable cost.
Do Programmers Need a Degree to Get a Well-Paid Job?
According to the results of several private surveys, about 60% of managers of reputable IT companies believe that a specialized four- or five-year education isn’t necessary to become a coder. Up to 15% of respondents think that the need for a degree depends on the specialization of the programmer. And only a quarter of employers consider studying at a coding school mandatory.
Key Programming Degree Benefits
The interviewed managers cite the following advantages of studying in programming colleges and universities:
- Having a degree makes it easier to find a job. But only if the students would take care of creating their own small pet projects in advance.
- College education broadens one’s horizons. Therefore, university students are excellent interlocutors. But do you need a degree for it? In fact, most of the subjects at universities, sometimes even including mathematics, won’t help to get a job as a programmer. It’s because coding involves working with algorithms. That’s why many experienced specialists say that, for example, playing chess is more useful than mathematics for programming.
- Colleges provide useful contacts that can help in the future. But not always. Thus, it’s usually quite a weak argument for a person who wants to become a computer programmer without degree.
Furthermore, four- or five-year education teaches systems thinking. It gives a general idea of the profession as a whole and allows the students to see the relationship between different knowledge areas. Such features form the flexibility of thought.
Disadvantages of Сollege Education
Those who had started coding without a degree cite the following shortcomings of studying at the university:
- such an education teaches programming rather superficially;
- curricula of many schools don’t keep up with the current relevant in programming;
- large time investment (four or five years for several hours a day).
Nay, it’s worth noting that under the Stack Overflow Development Survey 2019, about 62% of programmers are additionally studied in advanced training courses after college graduation. Also, such coders contact specialists to receive PHP, Python, JavaScript, SQL, C, C#, C++, or Java homework help when obtaining further education.
So, Do You Need a Degree to Code?
To answer the question, it is worth turning to the Stack Overflow Development Survey 2020. Under this source, only about 10% of respondents consider formal education to be critical. And 16% of programmers think the availability diploma isn’t important at all.
Nearly one in four IT employees has become a programmer without a degree. Moreover, among those with a diploma, almost 37% graduated from college or university with a non-computer major. It’s also worth noting that many programmers studied in schools for only several years, after which they went to specialized courses.
Well-Paid Computer Jobs that Don’t Require a Degree
In the case of no experience in PC science, the applicants can start as support managers for large IT companies. Among other popular specialties for those without a diploma, the experts, e. g., note:
- software testing engineer;
- layout designer (makes the structure of web pages);
- front-end developer (creates user interfaces for websites, applications, or software).
Those who want to know how to get a programming job without a degree should apply thematic blogs (for example, on the Programming Assignment official website) to obtain the necessary information. Such platforms also frequently offer jobs for coders. Thus, unskilled programmers may receive some experience.
