Posted by Wade Walker on Aug 16, 2019; 10:26pm
URL: https://forum.jogamp.org/Specific-Java-Career-Question-Not-sure-what-the-right-thread-is-I-d-like-to-ask-all-Java-Developers-tp4039940p4039943.html

I've hired many developers over the years, and I think it's definitely possible to get hired without a degree if:

- You have a github full of good, well-documented code, and you wrote it all (i.e. it's not just unmodified forks), and you can talk about how it works and why you wrote it that way in depth
- If you know Java and the main APIs (like collections), can discuss them in depth, and can write code on the whiteboard or in a Google Doc during an interview
- If you know data structures and algorithms (maybe two undergrad courses' worth)
- If you know the basics of computer science (virtual memory, threads, locks, semaphores, et cetera, like you'd learn in a first operating systems programming course)

If you know those four things well, you'd be better than 90% of CS graduates I've interviewed :)