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by sideaccount 2601 days ago
They could still administer a coding test to the bootcamp certificate holders. Just because you have a CS degree does not mean we hire you without a coding test. Some of the least productive coders I have worked with have had degrees. Most degrees only prove that you have some ability to memorize things, practical application is a very different skill.
3 comments

Coding tests are effectively a benchmark, and as Goodhart's law says about metrics. They cease to become a useful measure.

That's why I am interested in someone's portfolio, if they don't have a portfolio, then why?

Coding tests are often meant as a fizzbuzz type filter - if it is meant only for a very basic level of competence.
>Most degrees only prove that you have some ability to memorize things, practical application is a very different skill.

My degree put very little focus on memorization. Individual and group projects certainly had nothing to do with memorization. My experience hiring and working people from other schools indicates that their degrees were similar. I'm not sure where this degree == memorization thing comes from.

I don’t really know either. Obviously a degree isn’t a necessary or sufficient condition for competence, but I don’t know why a lot of people seem to pretend it’s borderline useless, a scam, etc.
Coding tests are the easy part.

I truly believe that almost anyone could spend 6 months studying interview questions and go from zero coding experience to getting a job at Google.

Is this person going to be a good engineer? Almost certainly not. But by God's will they be good at programming tests and Google interview questions.