Academic Achievements

Just Read This Job Description: “You must have a 1st class degree from a respected University, technical degree subject.​ You must have 3 “A”s at “A” level, one must be Maths.​ You must have evidence of a passion for programming.​”

They must be dreaming, to be perfect academically AND have *evidence* of a passion for programming? Dream on!

For a start, I can count the number of people I’ve met in my life who have a real passion for programming on ONE hand; of those, most would say that while at UNI their passion for programming was all but entirely extinguished.

Secondly, relying so heavily on academic performance is grounds alone to ignore this company for the rest of time. Academic performance is by far and away the worst indicator of how good an individual is at programming. Particularly because most universities are woefully out of date.

For the most part, GOOD programmers are hackers; people who don’t (or cant) accept authority readily and march to their own drum. These kinds of people rarely find themselves getting all-A’s, quite often the exact opposite is true.

A couple of names come to mind: Bill Gates (Microsoft), Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook), Steve Jobs (Apple), Richard Branson (Virgin).

What kind of company would outright exclude such people. Its madness.