No one gives a fuck about your GPA
Take it from a teacher and a manager- grades don’t tell me you can code, your code does
First let me say all this advice is concerning the tech industry, for all I know your GPA is super important when it comes to being a doctor or a lawyer or an architect or whatever. I have no idea. Thankfully, in tech, no one cares what your grades were.
The message to students historically has been that “school comes first,” but lately it feels like the pressure has changed it to “GPA comes first.” That’s why I always try my best to bring up this topic this anytime I speak to a group of students. Unfortunately, the pressure is so ingrained that students never seem to believe me when I tell them their GPA doesn’t matter to their future employers. They don’t listen when I say it as a recruiter, and they surely don’t listen when I say it as a teacher.
So I will put my money where my mouth is. Here is how I know that grades don’t matter- I graduated with a 2.0 GPA
Yes, I graduated with a 2.0 GPA. Despite this fact that the world tells me I should be so ashamed of, I got the same job everyone else graduating did. At most tech companies there is a standard offer for new college grads, and it doesn’t matter which school you went to, what your GPA was and sometimes even if you have a masters degree, the package is the same. I started on the same team, at the same level as my friend who graduated with a 3.8 and two degrees, as someone who had an undergrad AND a masters from MIT (ie a fancy school) and someone who didn’t even have a technical degree. In fact, I managed to negotiate for a better starting package than most. Why?
Because GPA is not the end-all be-all of your value.
I know, this seems an obvious thing when you say it aloud, but that is not how it feels. In high school, I cared about my grades A LOT. The first time I got a B, I cried my eyes out. I remember the first time I failed a quiz I practically had a panic attack. Anytime my grades started to dip I thought my life was O-V-E-R. As a teacher, I see the same thing, but it appears as if it’s even worse these days! My students FREAK out as soon as their grades are “in danger.” They are constantly asking about how things will affect their applications to university. I even hear my high schoolers worrying about getting into graduate school. Can you imagine being 15 and petrified that you’re not going to make it into grad school?It breaks my heart to see my students under so much pressure and no matter what I say the pressure seems just to keep getting worse and worse year after year.
Now just because your GPA doesn’t matter, does not mean you can just do a shit job at school, sit around and expect a great job afterward. I had a low GPA, but I had lots of other things on my resume. I could tell a story as to why my GPA didn’t reflect who I was, and then I had things that demonstrated my value. My GPA was low because I was working three jobs to help pay for my school and support my family, and those experiences gave me a passion and an ambition I brought with me to my career.
I do a lot of recruiting, and in fact, I do some managing (yes, me, the fuck up with the 2.0). When I meet candidates a high GPA is nice, but I would much rather see you have experience. I promise I am not the only one. I have this conversation constantly with hiring managers. I’ve even had managers tell me they avoid students with 4.0s because they tend not to transition well to industry.
GPA tells me you’re a good student, but jobs and projects show me you can get things done. I’m sorry to tell you this, but unless you have an out of this world GPA (3.8 or higher at a school without grade inflation) you better have something outside of class on your resume to stand out.
Now, don’t go reading this and immediately freak out because you don’t have job experience. There are SO MANY different paths to being successful! The point of this post is that there is no single way to stand out to a prospective employer.
Can’t get an internship? BUILD SOMETHING ON YOUR OWN. Do a hackathon and then actually follow through and finish your project. Join a research project at school. Contribute to open source projects. Become a TA for your favorite class. Ship a school project and put it up on git. In fact, put your git at the top of your resume, so it’s the first thing I see after your name! Those things tell me so much more about your drive and your coding abilities than your GPA.
I would take a 2.0 GPA and plenty of kick ass projects over a 4.0 and no extracurriculars any day.
So here’s the deal- if you are proud of your GPA, if you have a 3.5 or higher, put that shit on your resume. Be proud! That is an accomplishment! If not? Leave it off! I won’t ask for it. I didn’t have my GPA on my resume, and there is only one company who asked me for it, and they ended up interviewing me anyway (I’ll let you guess which one). There’s a lot more than one way to show that you’re smart and motivated, and those that think out of the box tend to do better in the workforce anyway.
When you get to the workforce, there aren’t any numbers to tell you how you’re doing. If you spend your whole life letting a number be the measure of your value, you’re going to freak the fuck out when all your feedback consists of vague statements from a dev lead who was promoted for his coding abilities, not his people management skills. Trust me; I am on the other end to take you to coffee at your three-month mark and tell you it’s all going to be ok.
In the meantime? Cut yourself some slack and stop trying to force yourself to be good at homework and start figuring out how you can shine in your own way.
A note about grade inflation: hey you! Yeah, you, kid at the ivy league WE ALL KNOW GRADE INFLATES. Sorry, your GPA is extra worthless. I don’t even fucking care if you have a 4.0, your fancy school is LYING to you. This lie is dangerous. This lie transforms hard-working, ambitious 18-year-olds into comfortable and often entitled 22-year-olds who’s reward for the last four years is a quarter life crisis after their first performance review comes back as “average.” Take this to heart- don’t be that kid.
Are you a hiring manager that feels the same? Has GPA ever factored into your evaluation of candidates? Are you a student who’s been ignored because of a low GPA? Share your experiences in the comments below!
Keep an eye out for more posts from Kasey every other Tuesday as she tells stories from both the classroom and the tech industry. Next post coming 1/17/17
