Why Google Doesn't Care About College Degrees, in 5 Quotes - VentureBeat - Education - by Gregory Ferenstein

6/29/2014 Why Google doesn't care about college degrees, in 5 quotes | VentureBeat | Education | by Gregory Ferenstein
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April 25, 2014 8:05 AM
Gregory Ferenstein (http://venturebeat.com/author/ferenstein/)
Education (http://venturebeat.com/category/education/)
Why Google doesnt care about college degrees, in 5 quotes
Image Credit: Shawn Collins/Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/photos/affiliate/3766865469/in/set-72157621872002024)
Google isnt big on college degrees (http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/16/googles-eric-schmidt-on-critics-
who-say-college-isnt-worth-it-theyre-just-wrong/), although the search giant is inundated with
applicants touting perfect GPAs from Ivy League schools.
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Googles chairman and head of hiring, Laszlo Bock, has given a few insights
(http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/20/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-to-get-a-job-at-google-part-
2.html) in the New York Times on how he sorts through a multitude of bright applicants.
The upshot is that Google values the skills and experiences that candidates get in college, but a degree
doesnt tell them much about talent or grit.
You dont need a college degree to be talented
When you look at people who dont go to school and make their way in the world, those are exceptional
human beings. And we should do everything we can to find those people, Bock said.
Many businesses require a college degree; at Google, the word college isnt even its official guide to
hiring (http://www.google.com/about/careers/lifeatgoogle/hiringprocess/). With the rise of self-paced
college courses and vocational learning, plenty of driven people can teach themselves all of the
necessary skills to work at the company.
Demonstrate a skill, not an expertise
If you take somebody who has high cognitive ability, is innately curious, willing to learn and has
emergent leadership skills, and you hire them as an HR person or finance person, and they have no
content knowledge, and you compare them with someone whos been doing just one thing and is a
world expert, the expert will go: Ive seen this 100 times before; heres what you do, Bock said.
College degrees are, almost by definition, a certificate of expertise. A degree in journalism is a giant
badge meant to tell the world that you know at least a little bit about the trade of telling stories and
interviewing people.
But a degree really doesnt say what a graduate can do. Can they present an idea in front of a crowd?
Can they build a website? Can they think interestingly about problems, or did they just pass some tests?
Logic is learned, and stats are superimportant
Humans are by nature creative beings, but not by nature logical, structured-thinking beings. Those are
skills you have to learn, Bock said. I took statistics at business school, and it was transformative for my
career. Analytical training gives you a skill set that differentiates you from most people in the labor
market.
Logical thinking goes way beyond programming. For instance, back in 2010, Facebook put up a blog post
claiming that political candidates with more fans were more likely to win their race
(https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=448981740881), implying that getting more Facebook fans
would improve their chances. In no uncertain terms, this was a phenomenally bad argument.
Maybe candidates who were already more popular just happened to have more fans. And what about
candidates with fewer fans that won their races? In these cases, why did fans not matter?
The Facebook employees who ran the statistics understood some basic logic, but they didnt
demonstrate analytical thinking. Sifting through data requires training in the latest techniques for
understanding causality and creatively exploring patterns (FYI: Facebook has gotten a lot better
(http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/12/important-study-facebook-quadruples-the-power-of-campaign-
messages/) about these types of political claims since 2010).
Prove grit
It looks like the thing that separates out the capable students from the really successful ones is not so
much their knowledgebut their persistence at something, Google chairman
(http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/16/googles-eric-schmidt-on-critics-who-say-college-isnt-worth-it-theyre-
just-wrong/), Eric Schmidt said.
For some people, college is just really easy. They can play 10 rounds of beer-pong until 4 a.m. and still
ace an organic-chemistry exam the next day while their studious roommate is up to their eyeballs in
color-coded flash cards and squeaks by with a B.
A college degree cant tell Google whether an applicant is naturally smart or is a hard worker.
Apparently, Google would rather mold someone with grit rather than someone who is a lazy high-
achiever.
If you go to college, focus on skills
My belief is not that one shouldnt go to college most dont put enough thought into why theyre going
and what they want to get out of it, Block said.
Both Bock and Schmidt are adamant that most people should go to college
(http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/16/googles-eric-schmidt-on-critics-who-say-college-isnt-worth-it-theyre-
just-wrong/) but that skills and experience are more important than the stamp of expertise. Bock says
Google is looking for the kinds of projects candidates completed or what they accomplished at an
internship.
I honestly cant remember the last time someone asked me what my major in college was. If you want a
job at Google (or some other prestigious company), dont focus so much on your major, and make sure
you graduate with all the skills and experiences you need to do awesome things in the world.
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It makes sense. When a company finds a whiz kid, the last thing they want to hear from HR is: "Well, she doesn't have this-or-that,
so she doesn't qualify to that spot, and she's not going to accept an assistant job, soooo you better make a few phone calls,
buddy. Good luck." Google is not opening the floodgates for one minute. They're simply operating against their own Murphy's Law
that creeps up within any bureaucracy that can scare off a perfectly clear opportunity to get a winner on the Google payroll.
Besides, why work for Google when you do business with them? Get off the coffee & donut employee mentality! :)
Like Reply
That's why Google is so awesome... It judges people on their abilities, rather than just their past and degrees
Like Reply
This is why Google is awesome!!! Made my day reading this!
Like Reply
Darius, share it with CareerDean !
Like Reply
This is an April 25 article? Are you running out of news?
Like Reply
Yay norinski, tara sa google magchill
Like Reply
What a load of bollocks. They approached me. I served in two countries, don't have a degree and was politely declined. You can
own the world but not my soul. #dontbeevil #youarealready
Like Reply
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Martin S
12 days ago Greg Srnade
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perhaps you're weren't declined merely because you didn't attend college.
Like Reply
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You can't really stay up late playing beer pong and get an A unless you're interested in a subject, and by interest I mean you're attentive during
the lecture (maybe taking notes too), or you study the subject regularly instead of the night before the exam.
In my opinion, a good college degree shows dedication (studying hard because you want a good degree) and efficiency (getting good
results after studying), but I do agree with the point that there are many talented yet uneducated people.
Interesting article all in all
Like Reply
I swear this has been posted three times in the space of two months.
Like Reply
Chairman?
Like Reply
Place yourself in a position to meet people who know the people you want to meet. It's called showing up at the right place.
Sometimes called networking.
Like Reply
Try to get referred :)
Like Reply
How does anyone even land an interview with them? I've been trying for 10 years.
Like Reply
()
Here is why it actually cares in a single image:
13 days ago
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Gokul Seshan
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Google is acquiring knowledge and making people dump by just focusing on skills. Skills can be replaced by automation while
expertise / knowledge is not. Skills come out of practice , which means repetition, which means 'can be replaced' . I only wish
Google has more social responsibility
Like Reply
Beulah-Joy Kruis
Like Reply
Skills and experience is very important. My degree has proven useless and left me in debt.
Like Reply
Tend to agree. Not all people are "students" and yet are extremely talented! Thank you Google.
Like Reply
first question asked by google: "what is your gpa" this whole idea that google doesn't give a dam about college is total BS. just say
in
Like Reply
Of course they look at it if you have it. I think it depends on the position and the skill set involved. If you have a track record of
innovation and success in the kind of work involved and you can work in a group setting and share the credit for group
achievements then a degree does not matter because a degree doesn't give you those things.
Like Reply
Jun 16, 2014
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They do look at it and take consideration into it as you interview with them.
Like Reply
Yea I'm still just a little angry because I got rejected after 3 successful interviews and after turning in a well-received work sample. I
did not go to an Ivy school and my university GPA was average. After Google's recent "coming out" on workplace diversity, I guess
being a white male didn't help much either. :/
Like Reply
Go Google! Welcome higher consciousness!
Like Reply
They ask everyone what their GPA was when Google pre-screens. The good GPA is a plus. They "don't care" when it comes down
to how practical your skills are with respect to your GPA. They don't care about the proportion because they say it isn't there, but
as two separate concepts (your skills verses your GPA), they care, and they care more about your skills, what you're going to
contribute, and what you can contribute.
Like Reply
Just in words only...atleast in India...because...in India Google only recruits from the top Institutions like IITs and that also...top
scorers..
Like Reply
That 14% figure prompts me to again ask who is the audience for this article. If most teams at Google remain comprised of 86% or
more of people with college degrees, without comparison with other software company's hiring practices, it's not clear that 14% is
really all that remarkable. I suspect that the author wants to convey that Google's hiring team wants its employees and future
candidates to believe that that they are or will remain employed solely because of their good work, not their academic pedigree.
This belief is good for morale. But Laszlo Brock has not surfaced a convincing figure to back up his value assertion.
Like Reply
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That's unbelievable
Like Reply
This is hilarious, just three months ago Schmidt was saying something entirely different.
http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/16/googles-eric-schmidt-on-critics-who-say-college-isnt-worth-it-theyre-just-wrong/
(http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/16/googles-eric-schmidt-on-critics-who-say-college-isnt-worth-it-theyre-just-wrong/)
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LMAO...
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Nice idea - too bad the writer didn't study how to write a post that actually made sense. Just saying...
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GUGAL LOVES ALL.
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Google famously used to ask everyone for a transcript and G.P.A.s and test scores, but we dont anymore, unless youre just a
few years out of school. We found that they dont predict anything. Whats interesting is the proportion of people without any college
education at Google has increased over time as well. So we have teams where you have 14 percent of the team made up of people
whove never gone to college.' http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130620142512-35894743-on-gpas-and-brain-
teasers-new-insights-from-google-on-recruiting-and-hiring (http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130620142512-
35894743-on-gpas-and-brain-teasers-new-insights-from-google-on-recruiting-and-hiring)
Like Reply
They care about GPA, they have no stupid questions. Their questions all relate to the role your are applying for. At least that was
my experience.
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Daniel can represent. Alex.
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https://medium.com/@davidbyttow/four-steps-to-google-without-a-degree-8f381aa6bd5e
(https://medium.com/@davidbyttow/four-steps-to-google-without-a-degree-8f381aa6bd5e) It's true (y) I really admire
people who make it big without a conventional grounding in education, as long as they're not a dick to other people about it.
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From what I heard last, it's a third. So we have teams where you have 14 percent of the team made up of people whove never
gone to college. http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130620142512-35894743-on-gpas-and-brain-teasers-new-
insights-from-google-on-recruiting-and-hiring (http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130620142512-35894743-on-
gpas-and-brain-teasers-new-insights-from-google-on-recruiting-and-hiring)
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ahahaha, made my day (y) Apparently they don't care about a degree if you're at least 2-3 years out of college/uni...but surely from
what get out of a degree e.g. knowledge and contacts would hopefully lead you somewhere into a big tech company eventually you
would think...
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Then how come they asked for my GPA and transcript before my interviews?
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Ironically, recruiting from top schools worked for Google, Microsoft, Facebook and other great companies in the past. In regards to
their new policy, time will tell! Yahoo! went down this path too, before Carol Bartz came in and had to fire a bunch of people. I so
hope I am wrong on this.
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Bullish... When i worked at Google, 3 out of 4 people had degrees from Brand Name universities...
Like Reply
Quit copying articles from other sources. This story has been recycled about five times.
Like Reply
Ari Brown
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I think I know where the head of Google HR is going with this. But wouldn't it have been better to make the simple observation that
"America is full of young men and young women who spend 15 minutes a day learning their ABCs, and are destined to be
disillusioned by the handful of men and women who think at the rate of fifteen days a secondnatural aptitude is better than college
education. Or doesn't he have the skills?
Like Reply
Anyone that has ever interviewed there will tell what a total load of shit this article is.
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Cool... so if a person has never gone to Google, Can he/she still apply at Google if He's skilled?
Like Reply
I'd have to agree, particularly with respect to the high tech industry. While a degree is a benchmark of academic commitment,
character and intelligence are key in hiring senior resources.
Like Reply
Nice article. But a simple pie chart of Google employees would show huge slices with their bachelors, masters, and a bunch of
PhDs. You don't have to have a degree to be bright, but most bright people get degrees.

Jun 15, 2014
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I was on scholarships pell grants all if that I don't understand how in the hell I owe them $80,000 and they didn't let me graduate
because they lost one of my credits and I couldn't afford to go back it's bullshit I wish I knew a lawyer who would take my case :/
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6/29/2014 Why Google doesn't care about college degrees, in 5 quotes | VentureBeat | Education | by Gregory Ferenstein

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