[art_wells]

My college degree means nothing on paper professionally, but meant everything to my abilities to meet business and computing challenges. I didn't study computing at all. I don't expect that my experience is much different from others who have Liberal Arts degrees and found joy in technology.

I've worked with many people who have degrees and certification in computing and many who don't. As a result of my experience, I've rejected resumes from people who have studied computing and sought professional certifications solely, in preference to people who have English degrees and weird hobbies. Professional experience is supreme, but after that, I want a broad mind to tackle the problems at hand. While that's highly prejudicial, I've found it a very rewarding way to approach a stack of resumes.

[scott_s]

It sounds like you're just looking to hire people like you. You probably find it rewarding to approach a stack of resumes like that because every person you find who has a similar background as you is a validation of your own path.

[art_wells]

I've found it rewarding by seeing the team I helped hire, some of them eight years ago, do amazing things. I suppose, though, it might be time to speculate about my motivations and need for validation.

[un]

Sounds pretty elitist, and your company might suffer for it.

[william42]

Considering that the maxim for the new millenium is "Safe is risky and risky is safe" I think he might be doing the best thing. All in all, it seems like today the best way to approach things is to be different and his hiring policies are definitely different. Sure, he might fail, but would he be able to succeed if he did the same thing as everything else?

[art_wells]

I'm sure there might be problems with choosing the wrong criteria, but I can't see how "elitism" in itself can be a cause of problems in the hiring process.

[un]

By elitist I meant to say cliquey, you might filter out people you would really excel

[art_wells]

Yes, I can see that as a possible problem. I've seen fewer cliqueness in this crew (prehaps because they all come from varied educational and professional backgrounds), than I have in groups pulled mostly from tech academics and companies.