I'm not going to finish my C.S. degree in 4 years, it's going to take me a couple of years more. I'm not able to assist to all lectures and attend all exams because I've been going through a lot of stuff lately, so I haven't been (& am not) able to pass an academic year in a year. My gpa is still good.
I'm worried about being rejected for most applications in the future due to how long it took me to finish and I don't want to come off as whiny or anything in interviews, etc when interviewers ask me (if they do) why it took me so long.
So: Do employers care how long it took you to finish a degree? How important is to employers and interviewers? Is there anything I can do to counteract it?
Thanks.
Regardless of your work history, you should list internships and projects you accomplished while in school on your resume when you are starting out anyway (unless you were already employed in the field). And if anyone asks specifically, tell them, yea I took a little extra time to finish my degree. Never lie and don't deny it just be straight about it but don't go into personal details.
When you are in college all the pressure and focus is around your GPA, graduating whether you were in the engineering school or A&S school etc. When hiring, those factors are never as important as your ability to sell yourself. For companies that focus on your GPA or how long it took you to get through school, I'd be very critical of whether they are looking for the right candidates and whether I'd want to be there. That said, there are some tech companies that have extremely competitive new grad hiring and so they use school, GPA and degree as a filter, but I've never seen length of time to attain the degree a factor.
Good luck!
Beyond that, when I'm interviewing someone, I know I can't or shouldn't ask certain things, and I don't want to make people uncomfortable or break any laws. So I will often casually mention that I'm married or have a kid if the opportunity arises while we make small talk. I never tie it to a follow up question either, because that's too close to the line for me. But I'm not trying to figure out your situation there either. I'm just putting it out there that I have a life outside of here, that I'm probably going to sneak out (very) early every so often, work from home sometimes to get some other non-work stuff done too, etc. and that I won't hold it against you for being a normal person either.
This. I reviewed a ton of resumes, and even when I even noticed that total education time was "non-standard" (rarely), it didn't matter. It's easy as an employer to look at transcript and see if someone is slacking off or has other stuff going on. And the latter is probably a good think in terms of your commitment and drive.
I graduated in 2006, having started my Bachelor in 2000, beca8use it turns out that I have a pretty severe neurological disability. I've had much trouble finding a full-time job (one interview started screaming at me after I explained that I have a disability, but was most impressed with me up until that point) and one of my acquaintances explained that it was because I got a degree.
First, he told me that running mail/web/file servers at home show I can do it and haven't just followed an online tutorial but by doing my degree, anybody could have done my work. Then he explained that the length of time that I took to complete the degree was going to stop anybody hiring me. Later, I was told that it was fair to expect that no employer would hire me, there's no legal restriction preventing them from telling me to get lost because of my disability.
Obviously the first and last were wrong, but this is the first time I've heard an employer actually saying they don't really care how long it took to get the degree.
Me, it took 7 years to graduate due to severe health issues and family issues, but I kept on going, taking one course at a time in some semesters.
So don't worry about it, in fact, it can be a positive thing. If they know that despite many struggles in life, you kept on going, you'll appear as a go getter.
So don't worry about it, stuff happens in life. Keep on going and graduate, that's what matters the most.
So yes, an employer might take into consideration how long it took your to finish your CS degree but ultimately it likely won't matter much when all the other factors are taken into consideration. It's one tiny factor that may be very important for you right now but doesn't actually provide much useful information to the employer.
EDIT: Just to make my point even clearer: taking slightly longer than expected most likely won't stand out at all. Taking significantly longer may be a negative factor, or it may be a positive factor, but either way it will most likely not be even close to one of the most important factors an employer might consider unless you literally submit a slip of paper with only that piece of info on it.
So I didn't finish my degree, got a good job offer doing Electrical Engineering (based off a good internship I did) for 3 years. Then switched to software, and with 7 years programming background (3 embedded at my last job and 4yrs of side projects and research code) I landed a Senior Programmer position at my new job. I'm not in the top bracket yet, but for essentially 4 years out of college (without a degree) I feel I'm doing pretty good.
Right now, CS seems to be a "Buyer's Market" where the job seekers have a bit more sway since everyone wants a new app or site or what not.
Like plenty of others have said, work on side projects and demo code. Doesn't have to be polished or whatever, but every little bit helps. Anything you do to learn a new platform or technique, stick in your portfolio. Get a Github or Gitlab. If you're shy about your code, Gitlab has free private repos, which you can share with an interviewer when it comes up (though I highly recommend you just go public with most of your code).
The short answer is "no, they won't care generally", but employers may care a little bit very early in your career and that level of caring will eventually fade to zero. In order for them to care, they first have to actually know. We can prevent that rather easily.
The secret to counteracting this is done on your resume typically (I'm a resume writer and recruiter, who coincidentally also graduated college after 6 years due to self-financing).
Listing college dates on a resume doesn't have any real rules. Early in your career you will likely list your graduation date, and perhaps even some coursework, projects, and a GPA. There is no need to list the date you started college.
At some point in your career your resume will change. You might not even list graduation date at all down the road, in order to prevent ageism. You'll just have your degree, major, and university - no other details. You also won't list your GPA at some point, and you don't even need to list it now. If they want to know, they'll ask.
If you're asked about college attendance, you should be honest and tell them how long it took and why. But usually they won't ask, unless there is something else on your resume that tips them off.
All I list on my resume is my graduation date. I've never had anyone ask how long it took, why I didn't list the start date (probably because I looked older), or my age. My GPA has never been asked for either. Just don't talk about anything related to the time it took, GPA, age, anything.
When I graduated I had multiple job offers within the first month. No issues at all. The main thing they care about once you make it to the interview is that you know your shit and can talk to people.
Good luck.
I'm reading Hacker News pretty regularly but didn't bother to register since now that I saw this question from JxGZV.
I come from really small EU country that was formerly communist and I'm also an CS student in my final year:) With that being said, I want to share my experience that I had recently with a pretty well known big company which is in the business of software engineering and was merged with another company in 2012. Because of various reasons I'm studying longer that it is expected, but nevertheless my CV is outstanding, since I have many achievements as an undergrad (participating at conferences with posters, winning hackathons etc....). To make long story short, I was asked what was I doing all these years and if I was "doing drugs or what?!".My answer was "No I did not". I didn't get an offer after this interview and was really happy because of that.
For anyone reading this, if you are in a similar situation, do not stress yourself with such questions. Just send the application and CV. If they ask questions like these, you can find a better employer and you probably don't want to work for them anyway. Believe me. I experienced it.