[quote=deadzone][quote=an][quote=deadzone]I am more interested in what formal education/certs etc. are expected or mandatory for these positions. It sounds like the answer is no formal college degree is necessarily a requirement. If anything a CS degree would be a logical starting point. Any type of Engineering degree would be overkill or out of place. Which makes me wonder why do they call themselves “Engineers”? An overused term in technology in my opinion. Software Developer or Mobile developer would be more appropriate.[/quote]
Wow, the snobbery here is nauseating.[/quote]
Hey I’m anti formal education and particularly a critic of snob schools like Ivy or UC system as being overrated so I’m not the snob here. I’m merely pointing out a pet peeve that everyone in technology likes to call themselves Engineers even if the don’t have a degree in Engineering. I think that is inappropriate and unnecessary. Bottom line you don’t have to be an “Engineer” to code smart phone apps.
But I do realize the reality of the situation is there is virtually no chance to get your foot in the door as an entry level developer at any serious technology company without a CS degree or similar. And without that foot in the door you can’t gain the industry experience needed for any higher paying job.[/quote]
Let’s put it this way… Everything you do is about the chance of opening extra opportunity doors. The more you have, the more chances.
The “degree” from a particular college is really only needed maybe when you have no experience. But honestly, at least in the mobile space, if you have no experience, a degree from a fancy college is not going to make you a better candidate then some kid from a not so fancy school that’s been writing apps (as simple as they might be) while they were in high school or for fun while in college. That speaks a lot more than getting a 4.0 in some degree option.
Some companies (not all) require a B.S. or M.S. for senior management positions because it’s mainly to preserve face in the view of the public and there are some companies that pride itself of bragging it’s senior management staff are from pedigree institutions but not all and I would say not most.
I think what really boils done to when I hire someone is I can pretty quickly tell who is doing this because they really like to do this…versus who is doing mobile but could care less about mobile…
It’s the sort of answers to things when you ask that a normal, run of the mill person who took a few courses a “DeVry” or “FullSailUniversity” who are unqualified trying to con their way into getting hired versus people who have been doing this and spending a lot of their free time doing stuff that normally wouldn’t come up with the jobs that they are working in. Most really good mobile engineers know so much more than would would have been possible for them to learn at their current job, and those are the folks you want to hire, not the ones just sitting at the desk doing what they are told to do and haven’t demonstrated any self-drive to learn anything beyond what their job requires of them.
There might be some correlation between being degreed at a good college and work ethics and passion to self learn… I mean, usually the people who aren’t terribly gifted who got into a good school probably put a lot of effort into do that. So, maybe there is a propensity for those people to also put in the time and effort into learning above and beyond what they are told…But there are exceptions of people who didn’t go to college that make great software engineers too because theu were self driven. There aren’t as many but there are some.
Some people like to quickly say that Bill Gates and Mark Z didn’t go to college, and look how successful they are, therefore college isnt required…Yeah, well, Bill Gates and Mark Z are probably the exceptionally smart people that didn’t need college who are motivated themselves and can learn themselves…People who say this are most likely nowhere near the same capability as Bill Gates or Mark Z, and seem to be talking themselves out of college or things, erroneously thinking they are as exceptionally gifted as Bill G and Mark Z. Well if they were, they won’t be talking about how much they don’t need college. They would already be executing and demonstrating how successful they are…
Stop kidding yourself “you don’t need something to do well, you don’t need to do X to have opportunity”…Those things are additional chances of opportunity. They might not be successful chances, but they are extra chances…like extra scratchers on a lottery ticket…Every single time someone dismisses something as “I don’t need this, I don’t need to do Y”, all that person is doing is working towards a path of guaranteed being unsuccessful. It’s not one specific thing that is going to hold the person back…It’s the persistent negativity the person has on dismissing every new thing that comes along the way…to the point that the person doesn’t bother to try most things, thereby severely limiting chances of opportunity well before he/she has even tried…
Like my kid who refuses to try any sport because my kid thinks they suck at all sports. Well that might be true, but by not trying, that’s a 100% guarantee…congrats on talking oneself into 100% failure without lifting a finger. People are too fvcking negative for their own good. And I think the real thing is they are afraid when people do what they don’t want do, those people might actually be successful.
