> I feel like if you leave it off your resume, you probably wouldn't be able to land the interview to begin with.
The nanodegree is step zero in teaching yourself to program and definitely isn't necessary. Demonstrating what you can do is several orders of magnitude more important, and is the real end goal. Most competent self-taught programmers understand this, and understand how trivial a nanodegree actually is as a signal of being able to build good software as part of a team. I typically invite about half of self-taught people with a coding portfolio for an interview, mainly because about half have one that demonstrates the kind of back-end work we do. I invite literally everyone who has launched a product, no matter how small or in what domain, for an interview. I have never invited someone to interview on the basis of a nano-degree. Granted, every application I see is filtered through the sausage grinder of HR, so that's maybe a consideration.
Yes, that's the rub: Getting past HR, which typically demands a degree (or higher). Unfortunately, there are a lot of self-starters in this industry and I feel it is the fault of HR's lack of education in this matter to be able to recognise good talent.
I like your attitude toward interviewing anyone with who has launched a product as it gives you a lot to talk about.
The bigger factor is that it indicates that someone had the gumption to get there without the benefit of an academic and social system to motivate them. That is an impressive and unusual tendency of personality, and one that makes you an asset pretty much no matter where you are or what you’re doing. I want as many people like that in my organization as possible.
The nanodegree is step zero in teaching yourself to program and definitely isn't necessary. Demonstrating what you can do is several orders of magnitude more important, and is the real end goal. Most competent self-taught programmers understand this, and understand how trivial a nanodegree actually is as a signal of being able to build good software as part of a team. I typically invite about half of self-taught people with a coding portfolio for an interview, mainly because about half have one that demonstrates the kind of back-end work we do. I invite literally everyone who has launched a product, no matter how small or in what domain, for an interview. I have never invited someone to interview on the basis of a nano-degree. Granted, every application I see is filtered through the sausage grinder of HR, so that's maybe a consideration.