this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2023
369 points (98.7% liked)

News

23608 readers
4057 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Employers across a range of industries are dropping a job requirement once considered a ticket to a higher paying job and financial security: a college degree.

Today's tight labor market has led more companies instead to take a more skills-based approach to hiring, as evidenced on job search sites like Indeed and ZipRecruiter.

"Part of it is employers realizing they may be able to do a better job finding the right talent by looking for the skills or competencies someone needs to do the job and not letting a degree get in the way of that," Parisa Fatehi-Weeks, senior director of environmental, social and governance (ESG) for hiring platform Indeed told CBS MoneyWatch.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 0110010001100010 74 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Wait, you mean to tell me that a $100k piece of paper doesn't instantly make you the most desirable candidate for a position? Who could have possibly predicted that...

[–] FlavoredButtHair 42 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Good, No matter what you learned at your university/college you're still gonna have to learn how to do it the companies way anyway.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yes but you did prove that you can show up to the shit show every day despite insane financial stress. That's basically 202X work in a nutshell.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

My college attendance record was abysmal. Got me a job anyways

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife 4 points 11 months ago

I beg your pardon - my familiarity with Foucault makes me an instant asset to any corporation.

[–] OneShotLido 41 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Yet another reason to justify lower wages. This is right up there with "unskilled labor".

[–] vanontom 15 points 11 months ago

This is exactly my suspicion. "Not enough workers!" (willing to slave away for poverty wages), so now they're gambling that they can just hire and train anyone (and meet their arbitrary wage goals). May these businesses cease to exist.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

My employer falls under one of these companies that used to require a degree for every position and has now relaxed that and they do pay several pay grades less along with hiring a bunch of temps instead of official employees.

[–] Desistance 29 points 11 months ago

Not every job entry needed inflated experience/education requirements in the first place. It wastes everyone's time and effort.

[–] Son_of_dad 28 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Does anyone check? I've Costanzaed my way into a couple of jobs that asked for college degree. Nobody ever asked me to prove it, I just did the job as asked and nobody thought twice.

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

My college actually closed for a few years and it didn't have any effect on my job-seeking. I've also asked my three references if any prospective employer has ever contacted them and nope. For that matter, I'm a programmer and most of the jobs I've had required a Computer Science degree, which I don't have. I've often mused about what sort of outrageous bullshit I could get away with on my CV; these stories of high-up people eventually getting fired for fraudulent resumes surprise me not at all.

[–] Thermal_shocked 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I find jobs with IT it really matters what you've done on your own or previous jobs. I don't have a degree, but I've setup piholes, truenas, Microsoft servers, dabble in Linux, have ubiquiti firewalls and waps, had Cisco equipment, have done a little of everything, firewalls, nas storage, etc. I have certs, and if you ask me how to do something I won't hesitate to show you what I'd do or tell you I'd have to look it up. It's not programming, but knowing larger pictures and scenarios really helps and you know "what" needs to be done, it just may be different on meraki vs ubiquiti vs Netgear equipment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Yup, I realized this during my last semester in my IT degree. Degree doesn't matter if you have certs and experience. Plus, nothing I learned in my degree has actually been useful in my job besides some programming courses.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

it just may be different on Meraki vs ubiquiti vs Netgear

So much, this. Sonicwall certification is rote memorization of the UI.

[–] Thermal_shocked 2 points 11 months ago

Don't get me started on sonicwall. Many of my clients use the tz series and I had no idea how to use them when I started. Can't override static IP if it's in a defined scope? Lol that's crazy.

[–] Thermal_shocked 9 points 11 months ago

Both my last background checks "checked". You could see the status page where they were along the process and it had a green check after a few days. What that actually means, who knows.

[–] TenderfootGungi 26 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Requiring a degree should come with a minimum pay. Perhaps $30 per hr for a bachelor and $40 for a masters.

[–] GladiusB 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I have seriously seen 50k jobs requiring a Master's. I have made well over that in the last 15 years with just an Associate's. That I just got. In the same field.

Companies are stupid if they think anyone is going to apply there.

[–] AA5B 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I believe teaching usually requires a Masters

[–] GladiusB 6 points 11 months ago

It does! They should get paid more. But capitalism.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

In college, yes, but most places require a bachelor's and a teaching certificate.

[–] AA5B 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

There are places that don’t require a Masters to get a teaching certificate? I mean, sure there are temporary exceptions for new teachers and a testing process for career changes, but by and large teaching requires a Masters

My state’s department of education describes a Bachelors, and standardized tests as minimum requirements, but then goes on to say that is “preliminary certification “, and you must complete your Masters or equivalent during that limited period. (And as a practical consideration you’ll find it much harder to get a job)

[–] newthrowaway20 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Those some low wages for jobs requiring degrees.

[–] TenderfootGungi 7 points 11 months ago

I am not saying those are the correct rates. As a floor they probably should be low. Rates should vary by area anyway. Perhaps as a percentage of median apartment or home rent?

But here in rural America I have seen plenty of jobs that require degrees that pay less than that.

[–] chiliedogg 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

$30 an hour is in the 70th percentile of median income, and $40 an hour is in the 80th.

The median worker with a Bachelor's degree makes about $27 an hour.

[–] newthrowaway20 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I get that it's more than the majority of people make. I just still think it's too low. Everybody making less than $400k should be making more.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Jeez, I'm a school bus driver and we get $30 an hour - obviously no degree is required.

[–] Thermal_shocked 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife 3 points 11 months ago

Yes, also passenger, school bus and air brake endorsements. And you have to pass random drug tests, which is the biggest hardship.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

The best employees in my office went to State and Community college. The worst are the Ivy League ones who can't pass a single test outside of college. The second worst are those given jobs way outside their skills or degree. Then not required to take training. I would take a no degree cert over a degree in wrong field any day.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

Yeah...

Anyone who thinks this is a "good" thing are, at best, naive.

Long story short: For the vast majority of jobs, all that matters is having a college degree. Often not even in a vaguely related topic. Mostly because that provides a filter on job applications so that the hiring committee/person has time to go through the remaining applications.

Except, as anyone who has gone job hunting in the past year or two can tell you, the days of having fancy CVs/resumes and business cars are gone in favor of filling out a workday application for every single position and so forth. And that is because you are being put through filters based on specific listed skills, number of publications, etc. And those are increasingly "accelerated" through AI tools. And... AI is great at being biased as fuck.

So all this means is even more "studying for the application" as it were. Except instead of memorizing whatever algorithm or question a given company will ask, you need to do specific online courses from specific outlets and add specific keywords to your job history and so forth.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Only way to get a job nowadays is by personally knowing the management or boss, good ol' nepotism...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

To me, that's basically what networking is in a nutshell

[–] 0110010001100010 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I've said it for years and years, it's not what you know but who you know. That isn't 100% true but it's true more than it's false.

It's dumb, but really to get good jobs that tends to be the normal. I'm a great example of that. 7 months ago a previous boss reached out and offered me a new position making 50% more than I was. 100% remote, no on-call, no end-users, no hardware, etc. I jumped at it.

Would I have gotten it or even know there was an opening otherwise? Highly unlikely.

That's at least my experience in IT, I doubt it's unique.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

As a recipient of something similar...I agree, but I wish it wasn't that way. I got my current gig 2 years ago and just got a promo to senior with a sizeable pay raise and bonus. I work remote and out of state from a zero income tax state while keeping my HCOL pay scale.

I think I could go higher, but I'm against the same thing that is helping me out in my current position.

[–] hightrix 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I also wish it wasn’t that way, but if you’ve ever tried to hire for a job requiring specific skills you’ll understand why it is that way.

A vast majority of candidates are completely unqualified and/or poor workers. By poor worker, I don’t mean someone that does their job 9-5 and goes home. I mean the dudes that sit on Reddit all day or simply don’t work most of the day and then blame their spouse/kid/dog/cousin/etc as to why they are unproductive. I’m sorry, but if it takes you 2 days to change the text on a label in a web project, then you are slacking. I say this as someone intimately familiar with the web project and understand exactly the work needed.

Networking solves a lot of that. I reach out to excoworkers all the time because they have proven they are both knowledgeable and not a slacker.

[–] HonorIsDead 3 points 11 months ago

I applied for an internal position 3 times as it came up frequently at a company I worked for for more money, and it wasn't until I found out someone I met happened to know the person that position reports to talked me up that I actually got it. I never forgot got that and it definitely reflected in me leaving eventually.

[–] QuarterSwede 2 points 11 months ago

We are social animals after all. Networking will never go away for that reason. My best hires/promotions were people I already knew the strengths and opportunities of. The odds of getting a quality candidate are much higher if you already have a relationship with them.

[–] Omgpwnies 1 points 11 months ago

That's not nepotism, it's networking. Nepotism is getting the job by being the boss' kid. It's also the reason why degrees/diplomas with a co-op or internship component are valuable. As a co-op, you're a low-risk/low-cost hire and the manager can evaluate your skills and get to know you. Come graduation, if you did a good job, you can reach out to those managers and have a much better chance at getting hired.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I'm a programmer and I don't think I've ever been asked about my education.. not that I have much I'm mostly self taught. Even so, I can't imagine what more education could give me to show in an interview.

The opensource community changes SOP for all of us basically every quarter so how is my education supposed to keep up with that?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

The trick is that you have experience. Without years of experience, it's extremely difficult to get hired without a degree.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What is the best way to teach yourself programming? I love tinkering with technology systems in my home, and have often thought about how writing simple programs could unleash some extra potential, but I don’t know where to start.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

We programmers share our knowledge freely in user manuals, tutorials, articles and YouTube videos.

But in my experience the only thing that I see slowing down new programmers is motivation. You can't really learn code without having a reason to apply what you've learned. You have to come up with a reason first, That's my best advice.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I have ideas of things to do, but since I am starting from 0, I don’t even know what language to aim for, or what is a reasonable project to start with. I feel like I could definitely figure things out on my own from tutorials if I just had some basic primer about what’s out there and what things are typically designed to do.

I don’t know what I don’t know, so it is hard to know what questions I need to ask.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I have ideas of things to do, but since I am starting from 0

Perfect! You've taken the hardest step. I can give you advice from here.

Computers only really do 3 types of work, there can be more but most can be summarized like this:

  • Displaying things on screen: this only ever happens on the end user's device. React and React native are the best options for that.
  • Copying data from one spot to the next: simple operations to get data from one location, reencode it and send it somewhere else, wether to the end user's device or another database its all the same work. Typescript is best suited for that.
  • Hard work: processing large blobs of data like reencoding pictures and videos, consuming megabytes of data at a time and running a calculation. Go is best suited for that.
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Thank you so much for your responses! I feel a lot more encouraged after this conversation. You never know how the seeds you plant may grow—and you’ve definitely planted one today.

I think I’ll start with some basic move and rename stuff since that would save me some manual work, and then I’ll see how I can grow from there.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Finally. Got grilled so much about this in my current job during the interview, so stupid.

- Senior full stack developer with many recommendations from past coworkers and 7 years experience, BUT with a B.S. in Biology