The 4-year debate: Do degree requirements still matter for IT?
“We
really
focus
on
skills,”
Jordan
explains,
adding
that
company
leaders
recognize
that
professionals
can
build
skills
through
certifications,
massive
open
online
courses
(MOOCs)
and
other
such
avenues.
“We
really
focus
on
skills,”
Jordan
explains,
adding
that
company
leaders
recognize
that
professionals
can
build
skills
through
certifications,
massive
open
online
courses
(MOOCs)
and
other
such
avenues.
Now
more
than
half
of
the
job
openings
posted
by
IBM
no
longer
require
degrees,
Jordan
says.
And
company
managers
and
human
resources
teams
continue
to
review
position
requirements,
so
an
increasing
number
of
jobs
are
falling
into
that
no-degrees-needed
category.
The
hiring
of
people
without
degrees
increased
35%
since
IBM
started
removing
the
four-year
degree
requirements.
Jordan
says
IBM’s
approach
helps
the
company
compete
for
talent,
a
particularly
important
benefit
while unemployment
hovers
around
4%
and
unemployment
for
technical
occupations
remains
around
2%.
She
points
out
that
by
requiring
a
bachelor’s
degree,
companies
shut
out
the 62%
of
Americans
who
don’t
have
that
credential.
“You’re
really
limiting
the
opportunities
for
a
large
pool
of
people,”
she
adds.
Skills
matter
more
than
academics
Mike
Calvo,
CTO
of
Shipt,
which
operates
an
app-based
shopping
and
delivery
service,
also
brings
that
philosophy to
hiring;
he
says
the
company
has
focused
on
hiring
for
skills
since
it
was
founded
in
2014.
He
says
Shipt
asks
for
either
a
four-year
degree
or
relevant
experience
for
most technology
team
roles. To
ensure
they
get
the
right
talent,
Calvo
says
hiring
managers
“get pretty
specific
with
skills,
years
of
experience,
technical
capabilities,
and
experiences
working
in
an
environment
similar
to
ours.”
Calvo,
who
oversees
internal
IT
operations,
says
they’re
looking
for
people
who
like
to
solve
problems
and
are
curious.
“That’s
all
way
more
important
to
us
than
where
you
got
a
degree,
or
if
you
have
a
degree,
and
we’ve
hired
a
good
number
of
people
who
have
qualified
from
a
knowledge
perspective,”
he
says.
“[College]
has
become
so
unimportant
a
factor
in
someone’s
performance
that
people
don’t
talk
about
it;
they
don’t
look
at
it.
I
can’t
tell
you
the
last
time
I
looked
at
a
candidate
and
said,
‘Oh,
they
have
a
degree.’”
The
Birmingham,
Ala.-based
company
partners
with
training
programs
to
recruit
professionals
with
the
specific
tech
skills
Shipt
needs.
For
example,
in
2021
it
hired
25
graduates
of
a
Pivot
Technology
School
bootcamp
and
is
onboarding
another
17
from
the
school’s
training
program.
Real
world
versus
theory
Others
similarly
stress
that
hands-on
skills
matter
more
than
academics
for
many,
if
not
most,
technical
positions.
Anant
Adya,
an
executive
vice
president
of
cloud
services
company
Infosys
Cobalt,
says
he
looks
at attitude,
testing candidates’
ability
and
willingness
to
learn
when
making
hires.
Adya’s
company
often
recruits
from
community
colleges
and
certification
programs
that
focus
on
giving
participants
hands-on
training
in
skills
that
align
to
existing
market
needs.
That’s
not
always
the
case
with
graduates
from
four-year
academic
programs,
Adya
says,
adding
that
“we
have
found
there
was
a
gap
between
what’s
required
in
the
real
world
and
what’s
taught
in
[four-year]
college
programs.”
Tailoring
talent
to
your
needs
Proponents
of
skills-based
hiring
say
the
approach
works
best
when
it’s
part
of
a
comprehensive
talent
strategy
—
one
that
has
a
heavy
emphasis
on
ongoing
training
and
upskilling.
That’s
what
plays
out
at
Thoughtworks.
Thoughtworks
North
America
CEO
Chris
Murphy
says
the
company
has
a
long
history
of
“hiring
non-traditional
talent
for
tech
roles”
including
coding
bootcamp
graduates
as
well
as
people
who
have
learned
coding
on
the
job
or
in
their
own
time.
The
company
in
2005
started
its Thoughtworks
University
program (TWU)
to
provide
a
one-year
training
program
to
ensure
such
hires
can
succeed
at
the
company.
The
case
for
degrees
Not
all
are
convinced
that
dropping
degree
requirements
is
the
way
to
go,
however.
Jane
Zhu,
CIO
and
senior
vice
president
at
Veritas
Technologies,
says
she
sees
value
in
degrees,
value
that
isn’t
always
replicated
through
other
channels.
“Though
we
don’t
necessarily
require
degrees
for
all
IT
roles
here
at
Veritas,
I
believe
that
they
do
help
candidates
demonstrate
a
level
of
formal
education
and
commitment
to
the
field
and
provide
a
foundation
in
fundamental
concepts
and
theories
of
IT-related
fields
that
may
not
be
easily
gained
through
self-study
or
on-the-job
training,”
she
says.
“Through
college
education,
candidates
have
usually
acquired
basic
technical
knowledge,
problem-solving
skills,
the
ability
to
collaborate
with
others,
and
ownership
and
accountability.
They
also
often
gain
an
understanding
of
the
business
and
social
impacts
of
their
actions.”
Intangibles
matter
Zhu,
who
has
a
bachelor’s
and
master’s
in
computer
science
and
a
doctorate
in
operations
research,
says
her
own
academic
achievements
“have
played
a
huge
role
in
my
success.”
She
adds:
“The
knowledge
I
acquired
from
my
degrees
equips
me
with
strong
technical
and
problem-solving
skills;
enables
me
to
easily
internalize
business
strategies,
initiatives
and
challenges;
have
productive
architecture-level
discussions
with
IT
staff;
and
allows
me
to
make
sound
business
decisions
faster.”
Vision
and
commitment
Josh
Lazar,
who
recently
served
for
three
years
as
CIO
for
Florida’s
18th
Judicial
Circuit,
has
a
similar
take.
“A
four-year
degree
shows
that
a
candidate
can
make
a
commitment
to
a
long-term
goal
and
achieve
it.
Further,
the
training
you
get
within
that
setting
can
be
more
demanding
and
a
person
can
gain
expertise
in
a
particular
area,”
says
Lazar,
who
left
his
CIO
role
in
February
and
is
now
CEO
of
TechThinkTank.
Leadership
and
learning
skills
Others
share
that
perspective,
saying
a
bachelor’s
degree
demonstrates
that
candidates
can
think
critically,
handle
complex
problems,
and
persuasively
communicate
ideas;
that
they
have
studied
a
range
of
topics
that
help
them
manage
and
lead;
and
that
they’ve
fine-tuned
their
learning
skills
so
they
can
more
easily
develop
and
upskill
throughout
their
careers.
Of
course,
not
all
those
with
a
baccalaureate
possess
such
qualities
—
something
proponents
of
requiring
or
preferencing
degrees
acknowledge.
However,
they
say
someone
with
at
least
a
bachelor’s
is
likely
to
have
some
or
all
of
them
—
and
that
is
reassuring.
“The
CIO
is
placing
a
bet
with
everyone
they
hire,
and
they
want
a
sure
bet.
And
there’s
still
a
sense
of
comfort
when
you
have
someone
with
a
degree
from
a
top-notch
school
or
with
an
MBA,”
says
Mark
Taylor,
CEO
of
the
Society
for
Information
Management
(SIM).
Not
either/or
but
both
Dutile,
from
UST,
says
his
company
employs
almost
30,000
engineers,
most
of
whom
work
on
software
with
some
60%
deployed
to
work
in
the
IT
departments
of
the
company’s
Global
1000
clients.
Dutile
says
nearly
all
of
those
clients
want
those
workers
to
have
a
bachelor’s
degree.
However,
two
of
the
companies
do
not
have
that
requirement.
“And
their
experience
has
been
great,”
he
says.
That
fits
with
evolving
marketplace
trends,
where
there’s
more
openness
to
skills-based
hiring
for
many
technical
roles
but
a
desire
for
a
bachelor’s
degree
for
certain
positions,
including
leadership.
In
fact,
research
shows
that
nearly
all
CIOs
have
college
degrees.
Online
job
site
Zippia analyzed
multiple
sources
and
concluded that
in
the
US 67%
of
CIOs
have
a
bachelor’s,
20%
have
a
master’s,
and
2%
have
a
doctorate.
Only
8%
have
an
associate’s
degree,
and
3%
have
what
Zippia
identified
as
“other
degrees.”
Antonio
Taylor’s
own
experience
mirrors
the
ongoing
discussion
about
whether
and
when
a
degree
is
needed
in
IT.
He
believes
certifications,
bootcamps,
and
other
such
programs
as
well
as
work
experience
can
give
IT
professionals
the
skills
they
need
to
succeed
and
advance
in
technical
positions.
But
he
also
says,
“Degrees
do
matter
when
looking
for
certain
leadership
roles
in
IT.”
Taylor
returned
to
college,
earning
a
bachelor’s
degree
in
IT
administration
and
management
in
2017
and
an
MBA
in
2018.He
has
held
several
management
roles
since
earning
his
degrees
and
earned
his
latest
promotion
on
March
1,
moving
from
a
director
position
to
vice
president
of
infrastructure,
security,
and
services
at
Transnetyx
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