Analyzing 2861 C# jobs in the New York metro area breaking down by education requirement: High School (28), Associate Degree (67), Bachelor or equivalent work (520 – extrapolated as 45% of those with Bachelor as a requirement), Bachelor (637 extrapolated as 55% of total Bachelors requirement), Masters (1540 *Data is wrong), and Doctorate (69).
This suggests that less than 21% of the current job market is accessible to those without some form of Bachelor’s degree.
What was shocking for me, at least, is that the job site showed 56% of the job market “seems to” prefer a master’s degree or higher. Note I this data is wrong – The first 15 jobs I checked ALL allowed for a Bachelors degree. So it would seem it’s more likely that the majority of the market would prefer a bachelors degree but about 45% of those indicate they would allow equivalent work experience alternatively.
So if you are wondering if higher education can help you in your job search, the answer is yes.
With a BS degree, you have access to at least roughly 43% to possibly 99% of the job market (maybe more), which would definitely provide you the ability to find enough jobs in most times/markets. Without a BS degree you may have access to less than half of that market.
So, this data suggests a Bachelor’s degree in some information technology field would be very helpful in a job search.
But we can see there is a portion of the market that will accept equivalent experience in lieu of a Bachelor’s degree.
NOTE The chart for masters used the data the job site had for jobs requiring a masters. A quick analysis suggests that data is wrong and most jobs allow Bachelors degree.
What has been your experience?