this post was submitted on 06 May 2025
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I have an old friend who worked in advertising for decades in Montreal. I talked to him about career advice once and I remember him saying something like this.
He said he just jumped into a low entry level position as a young 20 year old in the 70s, worked like a dog in a bunch of positions and eventually became a high level manager. He had a small college degree and he said that in his first position, they were just looking for someone .. anyone .. and he got in. No one ever checked his background or education ... no one ever asked for documentation or anything. From that start, he just worked day in, day out and after about five years, he becomes a leading manager. After that point if anyone asked about his education, he pointed to his track record working for the company. 40 years later he retired with a wealthy pension.
That would be nice... If companies still promoted people beyond the levels of, "beginner peon" to "senior peon."
you have companies that actually hire people instead of commissioning them as freelancers?
Companies don’t promote peons to management, only managers in peon roles get promoted. Just because you’re the best button pusher doesn’t mean you can succeed leading the button pushers.
Meanwhile today data brokers and background checks walk hand in hand with hiring screens at any established tech company. I still have to verify my degree when applying for new jobs even though I’ve been out of college for over a decade and even if I’m not, I know they are still checking with a data broker of some kind or another. I know this because I’ve also been a hiring manager and had the recruiter drop people off my roster when their silent background check fails. Candidates don’t even know they are being dropped or which data broker may or may not have incorrect information on their degree status
Counter-experience: I don't have a college degree, but I have ~25 years' experience in tech. I never submit anything in the "education" section of applications but typically haven't had a problem getting interviews - including with the big name co's. Admittedly, it's possible I'm getting dropped silently from some applications but the only people who actually ask about my education at this point are recruiters looking to populate their database fields.