Who Needs a Computer Science Degree When There’s Wikipedia?

Re:Who Needs a Computer Science Degree When There’s Wikipedia? by wallflower on Sunday June 22, 2008 @10:12AM (#224202)

Short answer: A lot of companies (read: most non-startups) have an HR department that requires a 4-yr bachelor's degree in computer science. Yes, I know people who have made it without a bachelor's degree (and even a high-school) but these people did not need it - they could code (and more importanly, self-market).

Are 4-year institutions are almost mafia-like in their influence?

"Writer Noel Weyrich compared college administrators to the mafia. "Call it La Alma Mater," he suggested. "Cultivated and well-connected, its kingpins are masters of what amounts to a high-stakes protection racket. 'Nice kid you got there,' goes the shakedown. 'What a shame if he ends up flipping burgers without a degree.' That's an offer most parents can't refuse." [http://www.incharacter.org/article.php?article=3]

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Re:Who Needs a Computer Science Degree When There’s Wikipedia? by icey on Sunday June 22, 2008 @11:03AM (#224229)

I've worked at a lot of places that required a degree as a consultant. I have no college but a thick resume (read: blood, sweat and tears) which got me in the door.

Every single one of those places was stifling to work for, they were inevitably steeped in bureaucracy. To a certain degree, some of the bureaucracy was warranted for sure; but the problem is that a lot of these companies can't figure out when it is appropriate and when it is not.

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