Big companies only hire graduates and other myths.

I often hear people give the advice that "big companies still care about college" when new people ask if they need a degree to be a Developer. I personally don't even believe that narrow case is true enough to even mention.

I live in Phoenix Arizona, which is not the most or least techy city. It is pretty average in that regard, and I have only had one company, USAA deny my application because of a lack of college education. I believe they recently dropped this policy. I have only worked full time for two companies, U-Haul and American Express. I honestly think big companies care as little about degrees as startups at this point. At least that seems to be the case from my experience.

If you are trying to break into the tech industry I firmly believe investing in your talents will pay off far more than getting a degree. Simply by putting in the work making things you should garner a fair amount of attention. The opportunity cost of getting a degree is massive. Not only in the money spent, but also in the years of wasted time.

The simple truth is, there is a massive shortage of skilled workers in tech, and if you can prove that you have the chops, you will get hired. If you liked this post consider joining my Discourd where I answer all sorts of questions from general industry topics, to helping you debug your personal project.