If there is one thing that tech moguls across borders agree with, is that people who want a job at big tech firms don’t necessarily need a college degree. On Sunday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed the same when a Twitter user asked whether he looks for a college degree while recruiting an employee at Tesla.
This is not the first time Elon Musk has said that you don’t need to be a graduate in order to work with him. Back in a 2014 interview with Auto Build, a German automotive publication, Elon Musk said that a college degree from a great college does not tantamount to having the necessary skills for working at a big tech firm.If somebody graduated from a great university, that may be an indication that they will be capable of great things, but it’s not necessarily the case.
If you look at, say, people like Bill Gates or Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, these guys didn’t graduate from college, but if you had a chance to hire them, of course, that would be a good idea.
Here is what Musk looks for in job seekers at Tesla
In the same interview, Elon Musk said he mainly looks for “evidence of exceptional ability” rather than a college degree from a prestigious college.
While conducting an interview, he asks the candidates to give a summary of their career and the challenges they faced while solving a particular problem.
To ensure that the interviewee is not taking credit for someone else’s work, he asks them detailed questions about the problem they faced. The logic is simple: if the candidate didn’t themselves, they won’t know the answers.
Elon Musk is not the only one who doesn’t think that college degrees aren’t mandatory. Back in May, Tim Cook said that people don’t need a 4-year college degree to be a good coder.
