The Reality of Becoming a Developer Without a University Degree

We've all heard inspiring stories of self-taught developers becoming billionaires in unicorn start-ups. One such story is that of Jan Koum, who co-founded WhatsApp in 2009 without a tertiary qualification and sold it to Facebook for USD $19 billion in 2014.

With stories like this around us, it's easy to imagine that a significant proportion of high schoolers find a direct path into coding jobs without going to university.

The reality, however, is starkly different.

Over the past three decades, I’ve mentored a slew of aspiring developers in this position who’ve struggled to secure a job. Employers overwhelmingly require a university degree, usually in computer science.

In theory, many employers claim they’d accept experience over qualifications, but in practice, this creates a catch-22: without the qualification, candidates can’t get the experience. And yet, most of these people have undergone significant formal training in software engineering—just not a three-year degree course.

Take Stephen, for example. He self-funded a two-year training course in gaming software development, only to find himself in the same situation—unable to get a job because he didn’t have a tertiary qualification. He then completed another year’s worth of training through various General Assembly courses, both online and in-person. Even with arguably more relevant training than a university graduate, Stephen still couldn’t find a job because he lacked a university degree.

Others I’ve mentored completed university courses, but not a full three-year degree. For instance, one aspiring developer attended a six-month web development immersion course offered by one of Australia’s top universities. Employers, however, didn’t recognise this qualification.

When you consider that over a third of Australians have no post-high-school qualification, this leaves more than 100,000 young adults per year with no clear path to employment in software development.

Having hired hundreds of software engineers during my career, I believe a three-year university degree is unnecessary for 80% of coding jobs in the broader market. Sure, degrees in computer science and similar fields are vital for roles like developing gaming engines, AI products, or cutting-edge weather forecasting systems. But these jobs represent a small fraction compared to generic web and mobile software development.

On the flipside, I’ve encountered recent graduates from Australia’s top computer science programs who lacked training in even the most basic technologies required for web and mobile development.

Another issue is how the education system seems to discourage (even if unintentionally) disadvantaged groups, such as people with physical disabilities. In my 35 years in the field, I’ve never worked alongside someone with a physical disability or interviewed one. It seems the high school and tertiary systems filter out such individuals before they even reach potential employment.

Yet coding is arguably an ideal profession for many in this cohort due to its low physical mobility demands.

The same holds true for other underrepresented groups in tech. Each year, tens of thousands of capable individuals leave high school who could become perfectly productive developers. While only some would find coding fulfilling, this still represents a significant number of potential software engineers.

Is the Apprenticeship Model the Answer?

One of my (now adult) children attended university, while the other completed an apprenticeship in arboriculture. When I compare these two paths, I think the apprenticeship model is better suited for 80% of popular coding jobs.

The reality is, most amazing developers I’ve worked with attribute their success to having an outstanding first job and mentor—not to their education. Good developers are shaped by experience, not formal qualifications.

Over the past few years, I’ve tested this approach with post-high-schoolers I’ve mentored. They’ve ranged from recent school leavers to people in their mid-to-late 20s who’ve tried other careers. Most had between zero and six months of formal coding training.

What I’ve found is that, with on-the-job training and mentoring, it takes just six to nine months for someone to become a productive junior developer earning a reasonable income.

I’m now considering how to integrate this model more formally into my own business and wondering how a broader software engineering apprenticeship system might be developed in Australia.

What do you think is the best way to make software engineering more accessible to underrepresented groups? Tap reply to share your thoughts.

Andrew Walker
Technology consulting for charities
https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-walker-the-impatient-futurist/

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