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Do IT recruiting companies and IT managers hire based on what school you graduated from?  Does any school name carry value for IT contractors, even an Ivy name?  The New York Times recently published a column suggesting the answer to both these questions may no longer be a vehement “Yes.”

While the column has its own issues, IT staffing agencies have certainly noticed that there is a debate in information technology as to the value of a school’s name on resumes, let alone a degree itself.  Getting IT jobs today requires getting the attention of IT staffing companies as they are inundated with resumes. Sometimes a college name stands out to IT recruiting companies, but sometimes IT consultants are noted more for their skill sets or a demanding recent job. IT recruiting agencies are also finding that more and more IT contractors are attending college than previously.  This makes most college degrees, sometimes even Ivy League ones, seem somewhat devalued to IT recruiting companies.  These IT staffing firms would rather see an advanced degree from almost anywhere than a BA from Dartmouth or Harvard. Then of course, there are always the IT recruiting firms that skip the entire formal education requirement altogether and would prefer a Mark Zuckerberg type instead.