Exclusionary Educational Requirements and Their Effects on Tech Hiring
Educational job requirements have become the velvet rope of corporate hiring, separating “qualified” from “unqualified” with the flick of a degree. It’s a convenient filter for employers — easy to slap on a job posting, tough to argue against — but like any blunt instrument, it leaves damage in its wake. If you think requiring a degree for every role above barista is harmless, let me point you to the growing pile of evidence suggesting that it’s not just inefficient, it’s exclusionary.
In reality, educational requirements are one of the biggest culprits in perpetuating inequality in the workforce. Here’s how they marginalize entire groups of people:
1. The Income Trap
First, let’s start with the obvious: education isn’t cheap. College tuition has been skyrocketing for decades, leaving many people, especially those from low-income backgrounds, with two choices — take on crushing debt or forego higher education entirely. Not surprisingly, many opt for the latter. This means that companies requiring a degree are effectively saying, “You need to have $100,000 to $200,000 worth of education to even get in the door.”
Who does this impact the most? Minority communities, immigrants, and anyone born into circumstances where a college fund was as mythical as the Tooth Fairy. It’s a modern version of redlining, and it’s just as insidious. If you’re from a lower-income background, not only are you less likely to afford college, but you’re also less likely to have the networks and resources to game the system through scholarships, legacy admissions, or even knowing what boxes to check in your FAFSA. It’s a lose-lose scenario.
2. Degree Inflation: More Isn’t Better
Here’s the thing: we’ve reached peak degree inflation. Roles that once required a high school diploma now require a college degree, and those that once required a bachelor’s now demand a master’s. Why? Because employers want to hedge their bets and avoid training costs by hiring “ready-made” workers. But there’s a fatal flaw in this approach — just because someone has a degree doesn’t mean they have the skills.
And this “degree creep” disproportionately affects those who didn’t grow up in environments where higher education was a given. Ask yourself: is there really a need for a bachelor’s degree to manage a fast-food restaurant or operate as a marketing coordinator? Probably not, but requiring one serves as a convenient way to narrow the field — and by doing so, it keeps out people who could do the job just as well, if not better, without that fancy piece of paper.
3. Cultural Bias
Many educational job requirements are loaded with unspoken cultural bias. When companies say “degree required,” they’re also making assumptions about the schools and the backgrounds from which they want their employees to come. It’s why you see a disproportionate number of hires coming from top-tier universities, even if the job at hand doesn’t require Ivy League-level intellect.
What does that mean for underrepresented groups? It means that even if they scrape together the resources to get a degree, it may not be the right degree from the right institution. It’s a problem that’s often compounded by legacy admissions, donor-funded scholarships, and networking opportunities that are inherently biased towards white, upper-class applicants. This isn’t just marginalizing — this is structural elitism.
And let’s not forget about the interview process itself. Many hiring managers give preferential treatment to candidates whose educational experiences mirror their own. That Harvard MBA or Stanford engineering degree gives them an unearned advantage in a hiring process that should be based on skills and potential, not pedigree.
4. Life Happens
What about those who didn’t get the chance to finish their degree? Life doesn’t follow a linear trajectory for everyone. For women, especially women of color, interruptions in education due to caregiving, pregnancy, or financial instability are common. These candidates may have the talent, experience, and resilience that makes them better suited for the job, but the absence of a degree disqualifies them on paper.
Take single mothers, for instance. They often juggle work, childcare, and whatever they can spare for continuing education, yet they’re automatically disqualified from jobs that require degrees they didn’t have the luxury to finish. They’re competing in an uphill race with lead weights on their feet, while more privileged candidates get a running start with educational requirements that don’t reflect their real-world skills.
5. Age Discrimination
Another overlooked group that gets hit by educational requirements? Older workers. We live in an era where tech evolves faster than you can say “revolutionary AI,” and companies are looking for young, digitally-native talent. But here’s the thing — older workers have experience that can’t be taught in a classroom. Requiring a degree or new certifications for a role that someone with 20 years of on-the-ground experience could walk into and master is just another way to push them out of the workforce.
And the irony? The skill gap employers constantly moan about could be filled by those same older workers who don’t need two years of re-education but can’t get past HR’s filter because they don’t have the “right” credentials.
6. The Forgotten Trades
Lastly, let’s talk about the jobs that don’t require degrees but still fall into the trap of academic elitism. The trades — plumbing, electrical work, carpentry — are facing a serious labor shortage, partly because we’ve been pushing college as the be-all, end-all path to success for decades. High schools in many regions have gutted vocational training, and apprenticeships are few and far between.
Who benefits from this narrative? The middle-class, college-bound kid who’s told that a degree is the only way to a better life. Who loses? Anyone who could have excelled in a trade but was never given the opportunity or the encouragement to explore that path.
The Path Forward
So what’s the solution? For starters, companies need to wake up to the reality that a degree is not the same as capability. Skills-based hiring is the future. Certifications, boot camps, real-world experience — these are the new markers of talent. Employers should embrace alternative credentials, apprenticeship programs, and on-the-job training, because guess what? The best hires often don’t come from the top of the academic heap. They come from the trenches.
In the end, hiring should be about what you can do, not where you went to school. Anything less is just a lazy way of gatekeeping opportunity and perpetuating inequality.
Hi there, I’m Brian, and in addition to this Medium, I wrote Talk Tech To Me. I take on the stress and strain of complex technology concepts and simplify them for the modern recruiter. Pick up your copy today!
