A LinkedIn post by a tech recruiter has ignited a fierce debate across social media regarding the value of academic credentials versus real-world, practical experience in the tech hiring process. The recruiter publicly shared his decision to hire a candidate from a Tier 3 college over a graduate from IIT Delhi.
The recruiter’s core argument was simple: he is less interested in a candidate’s JEE scores or competitive coding rankings and more keen on knowing what they have “built, broken or fixed.”
The Comparison: LeetCode Score vs. System Deployment
In his candid post, the recruiter contrasted the two candidates directly:
“I rejected an IIT Delhi grad today. And hired someone from a college you’ve never heard of.”
The recruiter detailed the specific reasons for his decision:
- IIT Delhi Graduate: Had an impressive 1800+ LeetCode rating but “Couldn’t explain how his college project handled 100 concurrent users.”
- Tier 3 Graduate: “Built a payment system processing 50K transactions. Deployed it. Scaled it. Broke it. Fixed it.”
The recruiter highlighted the socio-economic disparity, noting that the IIT grad’s education likely cost his parents ₹50 lakh (for coaching and fees), while the Tier 3 grad “couldn’t afford a laptop till 2nd year.” He concluded emphatically: “Today, he got the offer. You got ‘we’ll keep your resume on file’.”
He summarized his philosophy by stating: “I care about what you’ve built, broken, and fixed. Companies don’t pay for algorithms you can solve. They pay for systems you can build.”
Social Media Backlash and Defense
The post immediately drew mixed reactions, with many users accusing the recruiter of creating a “rage bait” post meant only to gain views by demeaning the IIT candidate.
- Criticism of Bias: One commenter wrote, “You judged one of India’s top institutes using a single new grad kid’s college project? You could have said, “Talent is present everywhere” without demeaning the other person. Another added that the post seemed designed “just to gain a non-IIT audience.”
- Support for the Argument: However, others agreed with the recruiter’s stance on the current assessment process, criticizing the over-reliance on coding challenges. One individual lamented: “Many people waste a significant amount of their energy simply because the hiring committee cannot devise a more effective hiring strategy. It’s a sham of the current assessment process.”
The recruiter defended his position against accusations of being anti-IIT, clarifying that he was “anti-credential-worship.” He stated that he simply judged one candidate based on the interview, and if the roles were reversed, he would have hired the IIT graduate.