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Hoping to get a few opinions on this from someone who either has an online degree, knows someone who has, or is in charge of hiring people.
Do employers take online colleges seriously?
- Thread starter Shawon0Meter
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I didn't exactly go to an online college, but i went to DeVry, and no companies do not take it seriously unless you have the experience to back it up.
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I went to Mickey Mouse College and got a job 
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When I hire, I don't care at all about degrees period (let alone where they came from). I look for different qualities depending on the level of employee I'm hiring. If it is a more junior position, it's all about a few things for me:
1) Can this person self teach? Are they a problem solver? How well can they think?
2) Aptitude / talent - this can kind of vary based on the specific position (e.g. design, development, marketing). But I know "it" when I see "it".
3) Are they motivated / hungry?
For more senior positions, all of the above are important...but relevant experience and a track record of success comes into play as well. Degrees are about #30 on my list of things that I care about when hiring someone.
Your mileage may vary based on the potential employer / field etc though.
My 2 cents.
1) Can this person self teach? Are they a problem solver? How well can they think?
2) Aptitude / talent - this can kind of vary based on the specific position (e.g. design, development, marketing). But I know "it" when I see "it".
3) Are they motivated / hungry?
For more senior positions, all of the above are important...but relevant experience and a track record of success comes into play as well. Degrees are about #30 on my list of things that I care about when hiring someone.
Your mileage may vary based on the potential employer / field etc though.
My 2 cents.
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Why can't all hiring managers be like you?
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Because other people are dumb and focus on the wrong things 
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LOL. No. I immediately junk any and all applications with online degrees.
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Would we expect anything else from you?
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Because other people are dumb and focus on the wrong things
This.... so much this.... we are down 2 people on my team right now and we are interviewing people.... 2 guys interviewed for our more senior open position 5-7 years experience.... SQL programming, SSIS, that kinda stuff.... my team member did the SQL questions and I did SSIS.... 2nd guy comes in, tells me he has never touched SSIS... there goes all my questions, had to go with problem solving questions the remainder of the 30 mins.... my teammate goes in and does the SQL questions and the guy cannot even explain what a Join is in SQL, says it has to do with how many columns get returned on a query....
I realized... the fucking recruiter saw the term SQL and the term SSIS on his resume and just assumed he knew/had experience in both, when in fact he mostly did project management type stuff where people used SQL and SSIS.
Recruiters who cannot do anything more than send candidates based on the words they see on their resumes is a big irritation to me.
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^ That's fairly common. The problem really comes down to context I think. Most recruiters simply don't understand enough about the positions they are actually trying to fill to begin to ask the right questions. I imagine the conversation went a little like "Oh, ok...you know the SQL? Awesome. We need the SQL" before the candidate landed on you.
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I would hope not. Online degrees aren't worth the paper they are printed on. Sorry if I make sound business decisions. I'd rather someone walk in with actual job experience than with an online degree. An online degree to me signals nothing but laziness.
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Just curious, why does an online degree signal laziness to you? That seems like a pretty snap judgement. If someone is working full time in a dead end job, is a parent, wants a better life for their family and manages to get an online degree in the little free time they have....that certainly doesn't say lazy to me. Granted this isn't every person who has an online degree, but it is fairly commonplace. Don't get me wrong, I still don't give a shit about the degree...but someone coming from a situation like this does say something positive about their character. At least IMHO.
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It's FirstTimer, would you expect anything different?
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True enough.
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I'm currently going to the University of Phoenix which is online. It has nothing to do with laziness, but with time. I work a full-time job since I have bills and need money. I don't have time to go to a campus and can't do it because of money reasons. Nothing to do with laziness as I'm not lazy and very active. So, I completely disagree with that statement.
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With the same amount of time money(more than likely less after FAFSA an financial AID) and effort they can start taking courses at a local community college and get an associates. I'd rather have them walk into me with that and take the initiative of saying they want to continue pursuing their education towards a bachelor and beyond and have my business helps with a 50% tuition reimbursement once you've been at the job for 6 months. Most work places don't even offer tuition reimbursement for online degrees because they are too unreliable, too easily cheated, and are basically joke curriculum.
The sob stories about work, kids, etc don't work on me sorry. For the same amount of time you'd put in an online degree you could be taking actual course work at an actual school. Also, many CC's now offer night classes where you can bring your kids t class and/or have onsite child care.
Online degrees are the easy way out and mean jack squat and there's no real way to substantiate that person even really did the work for them. Sure they could cheat their way through CC and a 4 year school but that's much more unlikely and much more difficult to pull off than sitting at a computer for someone else.
Online degrees are garbage, so that's where I put them.
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After reading your writings around here I can't say I'm surprised.
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Yep, aptitude and attitude. I hired two guys at the same time for the same position because we needed to fill four spots. One guy that only had a two year degree with significant work experience, and another guy with a degree from a well known college and a little less experience. The guy with the two year degree constantly wants to learn new things, is into everything if there is a tech problem, and learns without needing expensive training. Simply put he is a "go getter".
The other guy is a good employee as well, but expects to be told exactly what to do and wants formal training before diving into something. He does well on tasks but needs a lot more direction. The other guy just needs to be told to go solve this problem with little direction and does, mush easier to manage. aptitude and attitude means a lot.
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Btw Nvan, your #1 on interviewing is like word for word mine as well... teaching/learning and problem solving can be hard things to test in an interview I have found. I try to get a sense for it as best as I can, but I find my co-workers or managers always dismiss the idea of figuring out if a person can learn quickly and problem solve in an interview, they tend to prefer to just figure out if they have the basic technical skills and the communications skills and then find out later if the person can problem solve.
It has been a major issue for us in the past.... at one point I ran all the Ops by myself with 2 contractors and 1 new full time girl and their go-to move for anything and everything was to just ask me.
"Hey this stored procedure failed"
Me: OK why?
"Well it looks like cause of trying to insert duplicates"
Me: OK where did the dupes come from
"Uh well it looks like there are dupes in the base table feeding the insert query"
Me: OK well how did we get those dupes, did the client send them or did our process create them?
"I don't know how do I find out"
Me: You re-import the data to the table after truncating it, getting just the data prior to any manipulation and then query for dupes.... btw I am 1 year outta college you have been doing this how long?
"Oh like 8 years, I am an expert.... its on my resume"
Me: Riiiiiiiiiiiight
That was how it was between me and 3 fucktards for like 6 months.... I started drinking whiskey
It has been a major issue for us in the past.... at one point I ran all the Ops by myself with 2 contractors and 1 new full time girl and their go-to move for anything and everything was to just ask me.
"Hey this stored procedure failed"
Me: OK why?
"Well it looks like cause of trying to insert duplicates"
Me: OK where did the dupes come from
"Uh well it looks like there are dupes in the base table feeding the insert query"
Me: OK well how did we get those dupes, did the client send them or did our process create them?
"I don't know how do I find out"
Me: You re-import the data to the table after truncating it, getting just the data prior to any manipulation and then query for dupes.... btw I am 1 year outta college you have been doing this how long?
"Oh like 8 years, I am an expert.... its on my resume"
Me: Riiiiiiiiiiiight
That was how it was between me and 3 fucktards for like 6 months.... I started drinking whiskey
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I don't how that even goes with my post. But okay...