   Experience Vs. Schooling in the modern workplace
  I'm shopping for advice and GameDev has always been good to me, so here goes.In the modern workplace, how important would you say Education is Vs. Experience. For example, is a startup more likely to hire someone with a proven track record but only a Highschool diploma, or a person who meets all of the requirements on their job posting?A little over a year ago, I got hired on to help build an online destination from nothing. In the past year I, among other things, grew that destination to 1.2B annual views. I also helped with technology development, worked as a liaison between various other entities and the start-up, and ran numerous statistical analysis on content. A glorious mixture of grunt work, office work, technical details, and a ton of other stuff.Things have changed in the past few months however, and the majority of the team (including myself) are bugging out sooner rather than later. Mainly because the boss is killing the company (but that's a whole other story). The question that is plaguing me, is: Am I going to end up working Starbucks/Retail again because most companies are unwilling to take on an unskilled & uneducated yet incredibly bright young man, or are there other start-ups out there who are willing to take that risk?I'd love to go to University, but due to personal reasons that isn't an option. Period. Any advice from the usually sage and amicable gents here?   
  Yes, most companies will ignore people that don't have college or university degree, and there are start-ups that will accept your experience. There are also some huge companies that will allow you to substitute intelligence and experience for education.The real ticket is having it all - education, experience, intelligence, ability, and humility. It might be worth it to go to school and work at a lesser job, but then again, you might the most awesome job ever without a degree if you keep looking. It's up in the air.   ;  It depends on the person/company.  Big companies and HR departments will tend to discard you quicker.  Also, right now is an employer's market, there's so much competition for jobs that being underqualified will really hurt your chances.The best strategy IMO is networking.  Get involved in local seminars and workshops, join meetup groups, etc.  It's a lot easier to get a job from the inside.A strategy that always worked well for me was to temp.  Typically you'll be working for someone higher up in the organization so you'll get more face time with management and decision makers than entry level employees.  If they see you making good decisions, working hard, and being dependable, they may ask you to stick around.  I got offered a job at almost every assignment I was on.  Also, the pay is better than working retail and the work is generally more interesting (though sometimes you get stuck with real crap).   ;  Interesting. Thank you very much for the advice about Temping, I'll keep that in consideration. Glad to know I'm not entirely screwed ;)   ;  It depends on who's doing the hiring. If they have a degree, they'll tend to have respect for your degree (if you have one). If they dont have a degree, they'll have more of a "Im doing fine without a degree so its not necessary" kind of attitude. In general of course. ;Quote:Original post by AndreTheGiantIt depends on who's doing the hiring. If they have a degree, they'll tend to have respect for your degree (if you have one). If they dont have a degree, they'll have more of a "Im doing fine without a degree so its not necessary" kind of attitude. In general of course.That's not how it works.If the company is involved with government contracts, they have quotas with regard to their employees (x% B.Sc., y% PhD., ...).If the company is doing consultancy work, they require degrees as well as certain other, unspoken criteria with regard to age, looks and general behavior.If the company is growing through public profile, they will require extroverts with good judgement and respectable profile and background (such as Ivy League, honors, etc.)If they run IT and related operations separately from business as an expense, then they will prefer minimally certified workforce, where skills required are well defined (for easier replacement and revolving door employment).If they don't have money, they'll take anyone that will work for them.If however they need someone to get shit done, and really get it done above and beyond, then they'll look at technical merits.Also, for non-hierarchical companies, cultural fit will be crucial, and degree may be part of that. But even Google doesn't require it, if everything else is sufficient.A company where hiring manager is allowed to let their personal preference cloud corporate goals or best interests of company is one places where one does not want to work. If looking for such employment, work for government. At least they offer some job security, but only thing that matters there are credentials and seniority, competence is provided by outsourced consultants.   