Does academic results matter to get a job?

Thread Starter

naickej4

Joined Jul 12, 2015
206
Hello,
This might be a silly question but since I am still in new in the Job market.

Does Academic results matters when trying to get a good job?

Let's narrow down the Job scope to a Software developer.

Thank you.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
The answer, like the answer to most things, is that it depends.

If you are just entering the job market with no work history to point to, then the people reviewing your application have to make decisions based on something. If you are one of fifty applications, then your resume will probably not get selected for the three or four interview slots if you have a poor academic achievement. So getting your foot in the door might be a lot more difficult than for the similar no-work-history-yet person you are competing with that has a strong academic background.

But, once you get some experience, then that will progressively become more important.

When I was first putting out applications as an undergrad there were companies that would not even consider you if your GPA wasn't at least a 3.8. I asked one of them during an interview if that didn't seem a bit short-sighted given the large number of students that had tremendous practical skills and common sense but that, for whatever reason, didn't translate into a high GPA. His response was quite enlightening. He said that I was completely correct and that the 3.8 GPA criteria was entirely artificial and that it's sole purpose was to limit the new-grad applicant pool to a number they could manage. They just had no practical way to identify the good "real world" candidates from the total pool and knew that they could find enough "real world" candidates within that narrowed pool to meet their needs. But he also pointed out that the 3.8 GPA limit only applied to new grads. He said that if you had more than a couple of years of relevant work experience, that they didn't even look at GPA because they had enough other things to take into consideration. The end result is that they still got to see the low-GPA-but-good-engineers, just not fresh out of the gate.
 

joeyd999

Joined Jun 6, 2011
5,234
When I was first putting out applications as an undergrad there were companies that would not even consider you if your GPA wasn't at least a 3.8. I asked one of them during an interview if that didn't seem a bit short-sighted given the large number of students that had tremendous practical skills and common sense but that, for whatever reason, didn't translate into a high GPA. His response was quite enlightening. He said that I was completely correct and that the 3.8 GPA criteria was entirely artificial and that it's sole purpose was to limit the new-grad applicant pool to a number they could manage. They just had no practical way to identify the good "real world" candidates from the total pool and knew that they could find enough "real world" candidates within that narrowed pool to meet their needs. But he also pointed out that the 3.8 GPA limit only applied to new grads. He said that if you had more than a couple of years of relevant work experience, that they didn't even look at GPA because they had enough other things to take into consideration. The end result is that they still got to see the low-GPA-but-good-engineers, just not fresh out of the gate.
IOW, your chances of making the major leagues right out of school are strongly dependent on academic performance. But you can join a "farm team" from which you can advance at a later date based upon demonstrated performance.
 

Thread Starter

naickej4

Joined Jul 12, 2015
206
IOW, your chances of making the major leagues right out of school are strongly dependent on academic performance. But you can join a "farm team" from which you can advance at a later date based upon demonstrated performance.
Hi Sir, I am currently working as a junior programmer or some say student apprentice. Will my job interviewer still look at my results?
Or will they possibly test my current work knowledge?
For example I have to go for Java programmers Job.
If I try and master Java programming and know all that there is to know about Java. Is it safe for me to tell the interviewer I know all that there is to know in Java and my academic results are not important?
A friend told me his boss interviewed a student who had cum laude all distinctions but failed the interview.
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
Will my job interviewer still look at my results?
Or will they possibly test my current work knowledge?
I would if I were the interviewer. A practical test is often part of an interview. Try to find out from any previous interviewees of your would-be employer.
Is it safe for me to tell the interviewer I know all that there is to know in Java and my academic results are not important?
Are you serious? No-one knows everything about any subject. You would likely be assessed as someone prone to exaggeration and it would cast doubt on the veracity of other answers to interview questions.
 

AlbertHall

Joined Jun 4, 2014
12,345
Is it safe for me to tell the interviewer I know all that there is to know in Java and my academic results are not important?
Don't ever tell an interviewer that you 'know all there is to know' about anything because nobody knows everything about anything. There is always more to learn. Going for a java programming job, knowledge of java is good. Be prepared to say what programs you have written, what problems you had and how you overcame them.
 

Thread Starter

naickej4

Joined Jul 12, 2015
206
Don't ever tell an interviewer that you 'know all there is to know' about anything because nobody knows everything about anything. There is always more to learn. Going for a java programming job, knowledge of java is good. Be prepared to say what programs you have written, what problems you had and how you overcame them.
Hi. Obviously I don't know everything in Java I'm making an example. Forgive me I'm not good at expressing myself.
Awesome so I never tell the interviewer I know everything.
How can I then impress the Interview?
Where I work only have bursary students so they never interview people so they don't know much. They tell me to google typical interview stuff or go on youtube.
Thank you
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
Hi Sir, I am currently working as a junior programmer or some say student apprentice. Will my job interviewer still look at my results?
Or will they possibly test my current work knowledge?
For example I have to go for Java programmers Job.
If I try and master Java programming and know all that there is to know about Java. Is it safe for me to tell the interviewer I know all that there is to know in Java and my academic results are not important?
A friend told me his boss interviewed a student who had cum laude all distinctions but failed the interview.
First, if you know all that there is to know about Java (or practically any other language of comparable complexity) then you are probably well-past time for a retirement home. So if you tell a technical interviewer that you know all there is to know in Java, they will snort into their coffee and immediately conclude that you are either a really pompous ass or that you know so little about Java that you actually believe your own hype because you just haven't scratched the surface enough to know better yet.

If you are going for an entry-level position, then they will probably look at your transcript (or something else related to your academic work). But if you can present relevant experience in a way that makes the case that you have solid skills beyond the entry level, then they will probably be willing to look past a poor academic record to the degree that you are willing to do so.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
Hi. Obviously I don't know everything in Java I'm making an example. Forgive me I'm not good at expressing myself.
Awesome so I never tell the interviewer I know everything.
How can I then impress the Interview?
Where I work only have bursary students so they never interview people so they don't know much. They tell me to google typical interview stuff or go on youtube.
Thank you
For most technical positions the biggest bang for the buck is to demonstrate sound problem solving skills and to be able to convey how you are going about solving the problem. Clearly state what assumptions you making, what estimates you are using, and what those estimates are based on. Remember, as an engineer of any flavor what you bring to the table is the ability to solve people's problems. The specific tools you use to do that are almost irrelevant because if you can convince an interviewer that you have the ability to effectively solve problems using whatever tools you know, then they will accept on face value that you will quickly be able to effectively solve problems using their specific tool set.
 

Thread Starter

naickej4

Joined Jul 12, 2015
206
H
For most technical positions the biggest bang for the buck is to demonstrate sound problem solving skills and to be able to convey how you are going about solving the problem. Clearly state what assumptions you making, what estimates you are using, and what those estimates are based on. Remember, as an engineer of any flavor what you bring to the table is the ability to solve people's problems. The specific tools you use to do that are almost irrelevant because if you can convince an interviewer that you have the ability to effectively solve problems using whatever tools you know, then they will accept on face value that you will quickly be able to effectively solve problems using their specific tool set.
Hi Sir. Thank you so much this is very profound what you stated. I never think of it in this way.
Thank you all for your input I will remember them all
Thank you.
 

Motanache

Joined Mar 2, 2015
540
I have one question I like that:
How much success in life depends on the grades then you take in school?

I searched the internet where I found only opinions. I have not found any serious scientific article about this.

My colleagues say that success in life does not depend on the grades obtained in school.

I know another category of my former colleagues who just wanted good grades in school. Employers were impressed initially and then not longer wanted.
 
Hello
According to me in most of the science and engineering colleges it does not matter how well you score provided you have scored more than a certain cut off percentage or grade. For example in a college following Grade Points form of evaluation, if a company calls for a cut off of around 8.50 and all the students who have scored above this can take the aptitude test. Likewise it happens for most of the companies hiring for employees.
More Importantly what we learn is of the highest prior importance than what we have scored.
 

Thread Starter

naickej4

Joined Jul 12, 2015
206
Hello
According to me in most of the science and engineering colleges it does not matter how well you score provided you have scored more than a certain cut off percentage or grade. For example in a college following Grade Points form of evaluation, if a company calls for a cut off of around 8.50 and all the students who have scored above this can take the aptitude test. Likewise it happens for most of the companies hiring for employees.
More Importantly what we learn is of the highest prior importance than what we have scored.
Hi, I am currently doing self study in Java and also going for interviews and tests since I am done with with my BTECH. I have realized that grades are important when it comes to specific companies and fields such as engineering. In IT (software development) I don't think excellent grades matters so much, as long as you know how to perform the tasks and develop the applications which are required. I know people who have CUM LAUDE (distinction aggregate) but can not do simple development in Java or C++ even for simple LINUX or UNIX scripting. They tend to study to get the distinctions and thereafter forget the information what they have studied which could be a result for cramming. They are book smart but not very practical. I always remember a very wise person who came to speak at the local church said: knowledge is the accumulation of facts but wisdom is the application of knowledge we should not just acquire facts like a sponge but able to apply the facts and knowledge into real work environment which helps us to be both book smart and "practically smart".
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
And people tend to focus on those that are "book smart" but who can't design their way out of a paper bag in practice and loose sight of the fact that the overwhelming majority of students that do get superior grades are also very good designers.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
My colleagues say that success in life does not depend on the grades obtained in school.
Naturally, it depends.

If you have no prior work experience, the only thing potential employers can use as an indicator of skill set is grades.

Once you have work experience, grades and degrees become less important.
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,976
My colleagues say that success in life does not depend on the grades obtained in school.
I'm guessing that those colleagues didn't get good grades in school.

Ask yourself this -- if you had the choice of seeing two surgeons and all you knew about them was that one graduated at the top of their class and the other graduated at the bottom, would you really be satisfied with just flipping a coin to decide which one you let operate on you, or would you rather choose one over the other because you believed that their school ranking actually might have some correlation as to their likely eventual skill as a surgeon?
 

wayneh

Joined Sep 9, 2010
17,496
I'm guessing that those colleagues didn't get good grades in school.
Bingo. The only people I've ever heard say that grades don't matter are those that didn't get good ones.

Good grades were absolutely the deciding factor for me getting my first professional job, and for my daughter a generation later getting hers. Neither of us would have gotten in the door for an interview without our outstanding grade averages. There was simply too much competition for anyone with lower grades to have a chance.

But your grade records are of zero value once you've gotten the job. You have to prove yourself every day to keep your job and advance your career.

Unlike me, my daughter chose to make a career change. Once again, her proven grade record was a big factor in giving her the opportunity to make such a change.
 

Thread Starter

naickej4

Joined Jul 12, 2015
206
I'm guessing that those colleagues didn't get good grades in school.

Ask yourself this -- if you had the choice of seeing two surgeons and all you knew about them was that one graduated at the top of their class and the other graduated at the bottom, would you really be satisfied with just flipping a coin to decide which one you let operate on you, or would you rather choose one over the other because you believed that their school ranking actually might have some correlation as to their likely eventual skill as a surgeon?
Hi Sir, thank you this is a very wise answer. I will use this analogy when this type of question comes up later in life. I'm just starting off my career and most of you are very experienced at most levels of work and academics. So we can learn from you all. Experience is the best teacher.
 
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