Written By Jess Feldman
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Course Report strives to create the most trust-worthy content about coding bootcamps. Read more about Course Report’s Editorial Policy and How We Make Money.
Skills-based hiring is a growing trend in today’s tech job market — but what kinds of tech roles can you actually land without a college degree? Libby Edwards, the Head of Career Outcomes at Springboard, weighs in with 6 tech roles you can land without a degree. Learn three ways that folks without college degrees can learn IT skills, and how Springboard supports its non-degree students make a successful career change into tech.
Libby, can you actually land a tech job without a college degree? When it comes to tech roles, do today’s employers accept coding bootcamps on a resume in the same way as a college degree?
Yes! What employers value most is hunger and experience. A degree earned 10 years ago in today’s evolving technical landscape is not as attractive to employers as recent real world experience and a demonstrated ability and determination to learn and grow (such as recently acquired technical certifications).
Since the start of 2022 alone, 138 Springboard students without bachelor’s degrees have reported job offers to us! When Springboard students focus on rounding out their technical curriculum with real world experience – for example, building out a great Github or design portfolio, or taking on freelance or volunteer work for exposure and experience – we see those students step into their dream technical job very quickly.
What skills are employers and tech recruiters looking for in today’s tech hires?
In addition to up-to-date technical skills, employers are looking for critical thinking, ability to collaborate and communicate effectively, and hunger to learn and grow.
Many of our students who are breaking into the tech industry may be downplaying their nontechnical experience (for example, their retail experience). But the tech field is a customer service field in some sense, in that you will likely serve in an enablement function for the organization you end up working for, providing technical expertise to diverse stakeholders who may not possess a technical background. Therefore the ability to be a great listener with a strong sense of audience awareness, and the ability to communicate clearly and even influence is critical.
Secondly, in a world where knowledge of content may become outdated fairly quickly, what is prized most is the ability and desire to be constantly learning. Completing a rigorous program like Springboard and earning supplemental technical certifications are both great ways to demonstrate this, but we encourage our students to be creative in thinking about examples they can talk about in an interview that demonstrate aptitude for learning, even outside of technical environments (e.g., learning a foreign language).
Lastly, employers are looking for candidates who can work autonomously and demonstrate consistent initiative and adaptability.
Some of the most common roles Springboard students without Bachelor’s degrees have earned after graduation are:
Average salary: $106K-$150K
Typical duties include:
Average salary: $103K-$148K
Typical duties include:
Average salary: $111K-$171K
Typical duties include:
Average salary: $96K-$148K
Typical duties include:
Average salary: $111K-$164K
Typical duties include:
Average salary: $91K-$131K
Typical duties include:
In the last year, we’ve seen Springboard students without a Bachelor’s degree earn great roles at great companies like:
Is this skills-based tech hiring trend catching on?
The trend is certainly catching on. We’ve seen recent news articles about Google, Bank of America, General Motors, IBM and Tesla all moving to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements from more roles.
It’s critical for company leadership to invest in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and looking at nontraditional paths to job readiness is key. If companies are requiring bachelor’s degrees as a rule, they’re automatically taking 70% of people of color out of the running. If companies want to diversify their workforce and gain the edge that is only available through creating an inclusive workforce that values diverse backgrounds, they need to consider dropping degree requirements.
Are there certain types of jobs that will always require an advanced degree?
Most entry-level technical roles are available to students without bachelor’s degrees, but students at some companies may find as they climb up the management ladder they encounter a ceiling as they’re approaching more senior leadership roles. This is not the case at all companies, though!
If you don’t have a college degree, there are many alternate routes to learning technical skills.
The key ways, which are most effective used together, are:
How does Springboard give its bootcamp students without a college degree a leg up in the tech job search?
All students in Springboard courses receive the exact same level of support and intervention whether they’re in our job guarantee program or not. All students receive:
Does Springboard extend its Job Guarantee to bootcamp students without college degrees?
Yes! Students without college degrees are eligible for Springboard’s Job Guarantee for both Foundations and Software Engineering and Cyber Security career tracks.
What is your advice to technologists without degrees on how to move up the career ladder into mid- or senior-level positions?
Our students who do well are the hungriest! They go above and beyond the basic requirements and invest deeply in themselves. They surround themselves with a positive support environment and ask for help when they need it.
Changing your career is hard and students do speed bumps like rejections, potential employers ghosting them after a job interview, etc. Students and graduates who do well and keep their career growing demonstrate resilience in the face of adversity.
They also take networking seriously — bravely attending meetups and reaching out cold on LinkedIn. These successful students build authentic, collaborative relationships and help other people as they look to advance their own careers.
Find out more and read Springboard reviews on Course Report. This article was produced by the Course Report team in partnership with Springboard.
Jess Feldman is an accomplished writer and the Content Manager at Course Report, the leading platform for career changers who are exploring coding bootcamps. With a background in writing, teaching, and social media management, Jess plays a pivotal role in helping Course Report readers make informed decisions about their educational journey.
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