My experience has varied wildly with person to person (disclaimer: I am self taught).
In my limited experience there exists a spectrum of programmers in the self-taught category. On the extreme left you have people whose sole experience with programming is just getting the damn computer to do what they want with as little effort as possible: copy and paste some code that seems like it fixes the problem, run it, and tweak as necessary. On the far right you have people who fell into programming as kids and took to it like a moth to a flame. Without any prompting they taught themselves assemblers for the various CPU architectures they came across, learned about cellular automata and dove into artificial chemistry, and could debate the finer points between normal and applicative orders. They've probably toyed with developing their own language using operational semantics or devoured texts on geometry and linear algebra at the breakfast table. Most of us, fortunately, sit somewhere in the middle.
I don't relish having to look for work as I am now. In my experience it comes down to a handful of scenarios:
1. You're sitting across the table from someone who is at least 10 years younger than you and has landed a senior role fresh out of school. AFAIK they'll self-select towards people their own age that look like them... and have similar life-experiences. You might not want to lead with your self-taught badge and down-play it if you can. Don't hide it though: you never know who you may come across and if you have the experience to back you up you can be a very strong contender.
2. HR drone at Big Co. is staring at your resume to figure out who you are. You're candidate X out of 5 they have to interview today and 28 they will sift through this week. They're also simultaneous scanning for keywords and will likely ask you where your education experience is located on your CV. You can't do anything but be candid. Hopefully you can knock the socks off of the developers in the next few rounds of interviews and exploit the poor communication channels between HR and staff. Unless the bureaucracy rules the roost: then you're just not in the right place.
3. You come recommended by someone you know who works at the company you're applying to. You just have to get through the interview. Play up your self-taughtness. It's really an advantage.
My rule of thumb is to wear my badge on my chest. I just have to ace the technical interview (which is the hardest part for me... my typing speed shrinks to nothing under pressure from a smooth 56-60wpm). What's the worst that could happen?
In my limited experience there exists a spectrum of programmers in the self-taught category. On the extreme left you have people whose sole experience with programming is just getting the damn computer to do what they want with as little effort as possible: copy and paste some code that seems like it fixes the problem, run it, and tweak as necessary. On the far right you have people who fell into programming as kids and took to it like a moth to a flame. Without any prompting they taught themselves assemblers for the various CPU architectures they came across, learned about cellular automata and dove into artificial chemistry, and could debate the finer points between normal and applicative orders. They've probably toyed with developing their own language using operational semantics or devoured texts on geometry and linear algebra at the breakfast table. Most of us, fortunately, sit somewhere in the middle.
I don't relish having to look for work as I am now. In my experience it comes down to a handful of scenarios:
1. You're sitting across the table from someone who is at least 10 years younger than you and has landed a senior role fresh out of school. AFAIK they'll self-select towards people their own age that look like them... and have similar life-experiences. You might not want to lead with your self-taught badge and down-play it if you can. Don't hide it though: you never know who you may come across and if you have the experience to back you up you can be a very strong contender.
2. HR drone at Big Co. is staring at your resume to figure out who you are. You're candidate X out of 5 they have to interview today and 28 they will sift through this week. They're also simultaneous scanning for keywords and will likely ask you where your education experience is located on your CV. You can't do anything but be candid. Hopefully you can knock the socks off of the developers in the next few rounds of interviews and exploit the poor communication channels between HR and staff. Unless the bureaucracy rules the roost: then you're just not in the right place.
3. You come recommended by someone you know who works at the company you're applying to. You just have to get through the interview. Play up your self-taughtness. It's really an advantage.
My rule of thumb is to wear my badge on my chest. I just have to ace the technical interview (which is the hardest part for me... my typing speed shrinks to nothing under pressure from a smooth 56-60wpm). What's the worst that could happen?