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tl,dr: No. You need commitment and technical skills. Though a PhD helps your
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get a job as a junior developer?
Why do I write this?
In October 2019 I submitted a post on reddit that got some attention (also in
this blog. I also have a PhD in computational chemistry. A handful of
commenters assumed that my PhD got me the job. I am thankful to them for
making me aware of that point of view 몭I wasn't). I think it is a reasonable
assumption. I also think it's mistaken, and I will now give my view on this point.
Keep in mind that the context is specifically getting a first job as a junior
frontend developer.
My conclusions are quite obvious. Don't expect to find any "magic knowledge".
Did a PhD give me the job? In what way did a PhD help me?
No, it did not give me the job. I know because I asked the person who
interviewed me.
A PhD helped my resume stand out in a positive way. It suggests intelligence,
and the ability to work persistently in a complicated problem. Both are valuable
to employers and make you look like a shiny pokemon. That made it easier to
get an interview. However, once in the interview, what mattered was no longer
the PhD, but my attitude and my technical skills. Imagining that my PhD gave
me the job would be mistaken.
I hope it's obvious that a PhD will not miraculously help you nail the interview.
So a more relevant question is...
Do you need a PhD or higher education to GET an interview?
You may say: "Without the PhD you would have never got an interview". I don't
think it's true. We're hiring junior devs right now 몭February 2020몭. None of the
candidates has a PhD. Half of them got an interview.
So, no (duh).
If a company filtered only resumes with PhD levels of education, they would run
out of candidates very quickly. A PhD is rare and gets attention from
employers, 100 billion %. It may give you an interview, but you don't need one
to get an interview. And even if you get the interview, a PhD will not guarantee
you the job if e.g. you lack technical skills. After all, 3 companies rejected me
during my job hunting. I believe the reason is that I was too unskilled.
In sum: