Show me your diploma! Does a programmer need to obtain a higher specialized education?

Do you need to get a higher specialized education at a university to become a successful programmer? The question is ambiguous, permanently relevant, and there are very different opinions on this matter. Some say that without a specialized “tower”, those who want to become programmers will only be able to learn to become “cueers,” automators, various kinds of “form-slappers” and other subspecies of an ordinary coder that are little respected by labor programmers. Others disagree with this point of view, arguing that it is quite possible to become a professional programmer with the help of self-study and the educational materials that are available on the Internet. Where is the truth? As often happens, the truth is somewhere in the middle. On the one hand, without a specialized higher education, it will be difficult for many to get into the profession in general, but into some particularly promising and complex programming specialties, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, for example.

60% of professional programmers learned through online courses

On the other hand, statistics tell us that among programmers, self-taught people are, oddly enough, the majority. According to one large-scale survey of developers conducted by the Stack Overflow resource, 56% of programmers surveyed reported that they do not have a specialized diploma (diplomas in specialties in computer science and related fields are considered as such). At the same time, more than 85% of the developers surveyed said that they partially consider themselves self-taught, since they learned at least one of the programming languages ​​or one of the frameworks on their own. While 13% of respondents mastered the profession of a programmer solely based on independent education. Additionally, 60% of professional programmers who responded to the survey said they had used online courses for training at least once. According to the same survey, approximately 75% of all programmers have completed higher education, that is, a quarter of all professional coders do not have diplomas at all. And among those who have, only a little more than half (60%) noted that they received education in a specialized specialty related to computer science. As we can see, there is no consensus on how much specialized higher education a programmer needs. So let's look at the arguments for and against.

Higher specialized education for a coder. Arguments for"

“Is it necessary to receive a specialized higher education to become a programmer? Strictly speaking, no. But it seems to me that the percentage of people who can become serious programmers without formal training is not as large as you might think from reading posts about it on the Internet. Taking the first steps in programming is quite simple, and this encourages many to go into this profession, even if they objectively do not have the ability for it. Basically, if you have no formal training, you are an amateur. Although sometimes these amateurs can play the role of professionals quite convincingly, even without being one,” says Randall Schulz, an experienced programmer who holds the position of senior developer at Box. “However, do not forget that the lack of formal education and the lack of a diploma - this is not the same thing. Some programmers have received a full education in computer science, but do not have diplomas,” the expert added.

• Studying at a university lays the foundation of specialized knowledge

  The main task of higher education is to help build a strong and stable foundation for further mastery of any profession. And, it must be admitted, despite all their shortcomings, even modern universities in Russian-speaking countries still cope with this mission at the very least. Studying at a university often really helps to lay the foundation of a broad base of theoretical knowledge and skills, on the basis of which the formation of a professional programmer then occurs.

• Studying at a university instills skills associated with self-education

  If the theoretical knowledge is clear, then what really useful skills can be obtained at a university, given that real practical skills, for which there is a demand on the market, are extremely rarely provided by higher education? Universities teach how to learn, and the importance of this skill for a programmer is difficult to overestimate. Here let us once again quote the writer and futurist Alvin Toffler, who said that “the illiterate in the 21st century will not be those who do not know how to read and write, but those who do not know how to learn and relearn.” This is especially true for programmers and workers in other technical specialties.

• Having a specialized diploma helps in finding a job

  Despite the fact that having a higher education in general, not to mention a specialized diploma, is rarely an important criterion for hiring a programmer, sometimes having a diploma can still be very, very useful. For example, in cases where a programmer gets a job in an outstaffing company for a foreign employer who doubts his qualifications, having completed education in his specialty will be an important advantage. Also, having a diploma will be very useful for coders who strive to relocate abroad to countries in Europe or North America, for example.

• With a diploma it is easier and faster to get a good start in the profession

  Having a diploma in itself, although it will not provide a good job from the very beginning, can help you get into the process “from a high start” through internships in reputable companies and, if you are lucky with the university (and country of residence), thanks to the help of respected and accomplished teachers experts in the profession.

• Without a specialized diploma, it is difficult to get a job in some types of companies and get promoted

  For example, to obtain a position in a state-owned company or international organization, having a specialized diploma may still be a mandatory requirement, since for employers in this field formalities play a much more important role compared to commercial enterprises. For the same reason, the lack of a correct diploma can hinder career growth in state-owned companies or organizations.

Higher specialized education for a coder. Arguments against"

Where did this debate about whether a programmer needs to have a specialized diploma come from or not? Isn't it obvious that real experience and practical skills will still come first? Cody Harper, a developer at Sentinel, provides a good explanation in a post on the Q&A site Quora. “Is it necessary these days to receive a specialized higher education in order to work as a programmer? In short, no. Although this was not always the case. Until relatively recently, most large companies, including Google, Microsoft, Apple and IBM, did make having a specialized degree a requirement for applicants and screened applicants to see if they met this requirement. Therefore, previously, without a higher education in a specialty related to computer science, you usually could not even get an interview, let alone successfully pass it. Fortunately, things are different now,” Harper said. And he's right. Not so long ago, a specialized diploma was actually required to get a job in one of the leading companies (not for all positions, but for many). Now this requirement has been abandoned, but the fact that until recently it was very relevant speaks in favor of universities.

• University courses dedicated to programming and computer science are overloaded with theory

  Despite the fact that a strong theoretical foundation is an undoubted advantage of receiving a full-fledged education at a university, one cannot help but admit that sometimes university courses are too overloaded with in-depth theory. And the teachers of technical specialties in universities themselves, even very good ones, are most often scientists, mathematicians, and simply theoreticians by nature, who are not so much interested in the practical application of programming as in the correctness and “beauty” of the written code in itself.

• Many of the subjects taught at universities are almost never used

  As many experienced programmers, both ours and foreign ones, note, modern university courses for programmers are not only overloaded with theory, but also include a considerable amount of frankly outdated knowledge that is rarely useful to anyone. Most often, these are courses devoted to those technologies that previously played an important role, but now in the real world have long been considered a thing of history.

• University programs ignore many important technologies and skills today

  In addition to the fact that university courses include a lot of outdated information, they also completely or almost completely ignore many important technologies, skills and specialties in the field of modern development. Such, for example, as QA , game design, cloud computing and other trending tech areas such as artificial intelligence or big data . As a result, graduates who rely solely on a university curriculum without supplementing it with self-education often not only waste time overly immersing themselves in theory, but also graduate with serious gaps in their knowledge that could have been avoided.

• Universities provide little practical knowledge that is in demand in the market

  Well, as a consequence of all of the above, one of the main disadvantages of getting an education at a university is the fact that newly minted diploma holders leave the walls of the educational institution with a large amount of theoretical knowledge and very little or no practical experience. As a result, most still have to start their career from the very bottom, despite the 4-5 years already spent learning the profession.

Summary

What conclusion can be drawn from all of the above? Alas, the most banal one: you can become a programmer and achieve a high level of proficiency in this profession without a diploma in your specialty (as well as without a diploma at all). But higher education still brings undeniable benefits for a future career, so completely abandoning it as an idea would also not be entirely correct. But whatever road to success you choose, do not forget that the only prerequisite will always be hard work and internal motivation to achieve the goal.