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4 year related work experience or 4 year related Degree

R

Remy XO

Golden Member
say you had to hire a person and you had 2 choices. Would you pick the guy that had 4 year related work history or the guy with the 4 year related school degree?

And do not get technical like you guys always do. Just think generally which is better.
 
work experience..

as long as you made the previous company money and were a better than average employee, I'd say work experience trumps a degree..

I mean.. look at the CEOs in the US.. It seems like their degrees are nothing more than economics.. history.. philosophy.. or NO degree..
 
While on this topic ....

I worked WHILE I was getting my degree.... so I'm going to graduate this May with a Computer Science Degree, as well as 2 years work experience at an ISP as a Systems Admin and 2 years as a student tech at my College (which actually gave me a crap load of experience).

Both would be OK on my resume, or just the latter?
 
Even though you have experience, most jobs I've been looking at require at least a 4 year degree. It's not even a choice anymore, it's become the standard.
 
Originally posted by: ironcrotch
Even though you have experience, most jobs I've been looking at require at least a 4 year degree. It's not even a choice anymore, it's become the standard.
Click to expand...

It used to be the standard before the tech boom. It's all old boy's club now.
 
Originally posted by: ironcrotch
Even though you have experience, most jobs I've been looking at require at least a 4 year degree. It's not even a choice anymore, it's become the standard.
Click to expand...

Ok say a job requires both but what do they really care more about?
 
Originally posted by: Remy XO
Would you pick the guy that had 4 year related work history or the guy with the 4 year related school degree?
Click to expand...
Say you were undergoing brain surgery and you needed to pick your surgeon. Would you rather have someone who had 8 years working in a hospitial (lets say a nurse for example)? Or an actual doctor who is fresh out of their residency?

My point is that it comes down to your definition of "related".
 
I'd hire someone with a degree over experience. I can teach someone how to do their job, but it's much more difficult to teach someone how to be professional, how to write and how to understand concepts that they should have learned in school.
 
Personally, and depending on the work experience, I would lean toward the work experience... since there, their knowledge and abilities have been demonstrated in real world situations.

One of my best hires didn't have a degree, but a few years of experience. I have no regrets hiring him...been one of the best since day one.

Some hiring managers, including my boss, look for a degree first.

Also, it depends on the school. A degree from MIT/Harvard/etc. would obviously carry more weight than a community college degree.

Who really knows though... interviewing has alot to do with finding out what the person knows, and more importantly, in my opinion, will there personallity fit in with the current staff.

The last time I was involved with interviews I didn't look at any resumes until after the first interview.

I had the HR rep filter the original responses, then bring in the people without letting me know anything about them.

The ones I liked, I asked for resumes etc. and scheduled 2nd interviews.

It really boils down to a matter of what the hiring manager likes.

- TK

 
if they have the 4 year degree (even if its not related to the field) then the experience will push the candidate over the top.
 
Software Development:

4-year degree is a big plus. We only hire experienced developers, but I'd probably choose someone with a 4-year CS/CE degree and 2 years of experience over someone with 5 years of work experience and no degree.

A CS/CE degree teaches a lot more than just "programming" so someone who has only learned programming in the wild and never studied algorithms, data structures, OO design, software lifecycle, etc. would be less attractive to hire.
 
If the position is for doing new things, making new designs, you need the foundation that only schooling can give. If you are hiring for a position that is just technician work, or everyday is the same thing, then work experience trumps the schooling.

 
Depends entirely on the field. You can't get the knowledge acquired in obtaining an engineering degree in 4 years of "experience", particularly given the chicken/egg problem that nobody is going to give you a chance at the experience without the degree.

On the other hand, what good does a 4 year degree do for a tradesman? There you want skills and a solid work ethic - experience (and references) all the way.
 
From my experience, I would say that experience can usually stomp a degree, unless it were in things like business administration or most business world-type jobs. While experience is important, I would want my "higher-ups" to have college degrees of some sort.

Many IT jobs, experience will work in your favor. I have worked in the web development field since I was 16 (now 21) and am a film major 🙂
 
Originally posted by: dirtboy
I'd hire someone with a degree over experience. I can teach someone how to do their job, but it's much more difficult to teach someone how to be professional, how to write and how to understand concepts that they should have learned in school.
Click to expand...

Did you know how to write and understand concepts when you got out of school? Or did you think you did? There's a big difference.

The person with 4 years of work-related experience is going to be 1000000x more qualified for a job in the same field over someone fresh out of college with a degree. Granted, there are other factors at play (was the college grad an intern? etc.), but if you take it plain vanilla like the OP asked, there's NO contest - the 4 year worker easily trumps the college grad. Easily.
 
Originally posted by: Poulsonator
Did you know how to write and understand concepts when you got out of school? Or did you think you did? There's a big difference.

The person with 4 years of work-related experience is going to be 1000000x more qualified for a job in the same field over someone fresh out of college with a degree. Granted, there are other factors at play (was the college grad an intern? etc.), but if you take it plain vanilla like the OP asked, there's NO contest - the 4 year worker easily trumps the college grad. Easily.
Click to expand...

I've been on both sides of this fence, personally, so I can say without question that I am right. I can teach someone the skills, but I can't teach them things they should have learned in school. To answer your question, yes.

Of course this depends on what type of job, but at a professional level, I want someone who is educated.
 
It depends on the industry. Some require the degree because certain certifications require a degree just to take the exam.
 
In general, people prefer work experience.

However, with the person with a college degree, I can take a look at his/her transcript and see how hard he/she worked in college. That will give me an indication of the type of worker he/she is. I can't easily find out if the person with work experience is a hard worker or not.
 
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