Does a programmer need to study?

The first programmer in history is considered to be the 19th-century British mathematician Ada Lovelace. She published the world’s first algorithm, which was to be executed by her friend’s analytical machine. She was a good example of wanting is being able. The same assumption is followed by some candidates participating in the recruitment for the position of programmer often without formal education. Do they have a chance of employment?

For many years computer science has been the most popular field of study in Poland. According to Gus, in the academic year 2014/2015 the number of candidates wishing to study this direction was more than 30 thousand. For comparison, the second most popular law has chosen about 10 thousand. fewer seniors.

Already in 2010, the Ministry of science and higher education predicted that at least until 2025, specialists in various fields of computer science will be the most sought-after group in terms of technical professions. It’s hard to disagree. At bulldogjob, we know that very well. After all, the IT sector is one of the fastest growing, and the demand for new technologies is constantly growing. Last year, more than 140,000 people worked in Polish IT companies. people, but still 93% of enterprises in this industry plan in the coming years to significantly expand the scope of activities and hire new employees.

What matters in programming?

For most employers, the skills of the employee, his experience and technologies with which he worked, as well as industry certificates, are more important than the diploma. This means that the lack of a degree in computer science is not really an obstacle to work as a programmer.

By the way, lack of formal education can also be a drawback. Much depends on what technology the candidate for the employee specializes in. For example, in the case of .NET or Java, it is often easier to find a job for people after college, where these technologies are thoroughly studied than for self-taught people . In turn, the latter may have an advantage in the case of niche technologies, in which it is difficult to find specialists or do not learn such solutions in college. An example would be Ruby on rails. Specialists for this framework are searched for constantly, and often no one asks them about education, but about experience and skills.

“However, in addition to knowledge of specific frameworks, it is also important to know about software engineering and the basics that make learning new things easier,” says Ivona tur, HR manager. – Very often a self-taught person is able to perform a task so that it “works”, but it happens that without the basics of programming taught at universities, the way of implementation is unreadable even for the author. The road to a solution could be shorter and more appropriate. Of course, this knowledge can be obtained by oneself, but it is often overlooked, which is felt only by the employer-adds The Bulldogjob specialist.

It is worth looking for a good university

Although programming is largely an activity for enthusiasts, for people who are able to acquire the latest knowledge on their own, for people who develop through a lot of practice in front of a computer in the implementation of projects, at Bulldogjob we believe that a formal education in computer science makes sense. Although the examples of some people, such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, show that sometimes it is worth to give up studies and bet only on your own development or on a bold vision, we can also point to arguments defending the meaning of education in universities.

– It is important, however, that it was a good university and a good lecturer, so that there was an understanding of the labor market, which is to get a graduate-emphasizes Ivona tur. – I know from experience that people who have had contact with state universities usually perform better on tests and interviews than people who do not have such experience. Universities in Poland are not ideal institutions, but practice shows that students and graduates are more effective than people without education, based only on their zeal and passion. Perhaps this is due not to the university, but to the type of people who decide to get higher education. They have to be good at math and that, in my opinion, is also the key to their better position in the market.

Programmer with education, that is, the advantages of studying

It is worth asking yourself what studying really is. Surely getting a diploma, a “paper” confirming education is not the most important thing here; knowledge is very important, but in the end it can also be obtained outside the walls of the university. Studies are an excellent way to develop the skills of systematic learning, independent work, that is, what is necessary for every good programmer who wants to develop and keep abreast of technological innovations (programming languages and technologies are not static, they are subject to dynamic changes).

Studying is also an opportunity to get in touch with an experienced, often outstanding scientific staff (the role of a mentor or authority is still important in the formation of a young person), it is also the development of soft skills, learning and learning ways of working in a team, developing one’s own personality and technical way of thinking, it is often also a better ability to search for information and sources.

– Unfortunately, sometimes the university is also a place of bad attitude to students because of the unconstructive remarks of lecturers-notes Ivona tur. – Admittedly, this is changing, but often people after state technical universities assess their skills worse than students from private universities, despite the fact that they are better specialists. I note that this is changing, but still 6-8 years ago this trend was strong. Hence the frequent opinions that it is not worth studying-emphasizes Ivona tur.

We could probably find many other advantages of getting a formal education, but this is not about arguing. In the end, the skills of the programmer are the most important. However, computer science studies are doing well in Poland, and this direction at various universities is literally besieged by graduates every year. This only confirms that it is worthwhile to be educated in this field of science. However, one should keep in mind the constant development of their own skills, which Bulldogjob wishes all computer scientists, regardless of whether they have formal education or not.