Only One Person on the Facebook React Team has a CS Degree

Posted byCory Althoff

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React is one of the most popular JavaScript libraries in the world. The Facebook React team maintains it. Developers use it on the front-end to create maintainable user interfaces that can change over time without reloading data.

Scrolling through my Twitter feed, I saw the following tweet from Dan Abramov, the creator of another incredibly popular JavaScript library called Redux (often used with React):

 

In the tweet, he mentioned only one person on the Facebook React team has a CS degree. As the author of a book called The Self-Taught Programmer, I am always fighting against the myth that you can’t get hired without a computer science degree. I try to point out examples that contradict this limiting belief as often as I can. And this example is mind-blowing.

Facebook is one of the hardest companies to get a job as a software engineer at in the world. Facebook rewards the engineers that pass their rigorous technical interview handsomely. According to Glassdoor, total compensation for a Facebook software engineer is 194,650 dollars a year.

React is one of Facebook’s most high profile projects. That you can get hired as a self-taught programmer at Facebook (and on the Facebook React team no less) should be inspirational to everyone out there teaching themselves to program. The Facebook React team is one of the most prestigious engineering teams at Facebook and self-taught programmers run it. This example should dispel the myth that you need a computer science degree to program professionally. Or that you won’t be able to work at a top company without one, once and for all.

Want to learn to program? Register for my free Self-Taught Coder Masterclass where I cover how I went from a novice to a software engineer at eBay in less than one year.