I think the main reason you need a degree to work for bigco is that bigco is big so nobody can make a decision and thus decision making with regards to whom to hire must be delegated to a procedure. And it is much easier and repeatable to say “have a degree in x from a university” than allowing an HR person to make an independent judgement on the capability of each individual.
I’ve worked for several BigCo’s over the years where the range for “big” was from 3500 to 100,000 and I’ve worked for SmallCo’s and startups ranging from six to 700. I also have a “useless” graduate degree acquired at fairly unexceptional public universities. The degree is a weak signal for:
persistence- they completed something, anything, over time that wasn’t all in their area of interest.
language proficiency- they are capable of reading and writing.
exposure- some basics in a field, can be shorthand for learning.
structure- exposure to bureaucracy and work systems.
tribalism- they are “like us” in some way.
I’m put off by the last one because you really can quickly end up with an ethnically diverse room full of tall men with good hair from locally privileged backgrounds who attended Ivy or Tier-1 schools. However, the second to last is actually important because even within BigCo you can do some amazing transformative or cutting-edge work and even fail without losing your job or jeopardizing the company if you recognize which structures can be bent, which can be broken, which remade, and which are not yours to touch.
I think the main reason you need a degree to work for bigco is that bigco is big so nobody can make a decision and thus decision making with regards to whom to hire must be delegated to a procedure. And it is much easier and repeatable to say “have a degree in x from a university” than allowing an HR person to make an independent judgement on the capability of each individual.
I’ve worked for several BigCo’s over the years where the range for “big” was from 3500 to 100,000 and I’ve worked for SmallCo’s and startups ranging from six to 700. I also have a “useless” graduate degree acquired at fairly unexceptional public universities. The degree is a weak signal for:
I’m put off by the last one because you really can quickly end up with an ethnically diverse room full of tall men with good hair from locally privileged backgrounds who attended Ivy or Tier-1 schools. However, the second to last is actually important because even within BigCo you can do some amazing transformative or cutting-edge work and even fail without losing your job or jeopardizing the company if you recognize which structures can be bent, which can be broken, which remade, and which are not yours to touch.
This is a great summary of a key reason why I won’t go to big companies. Thanks!
SO very true.