Does Big 4 accept applicants without Bachelor's but with professional certification?

ahmadramlay

A little bit about myself. My highest academic qualification is a college diploma. I opt out of my Bachelor's study as I was financially incapable of supporting myself.


My first job was with a managed security services provider. My primary responsibilities include deploying and maintaining client's network security devices and analyzing the logs from devices and producing a report for the client.


Subsequently I moved over to an insurance company and I was attached to their infosec team. The infosec team is relatively small hence my responsibility was somewhat diverse. Responsibilities include security policy / procedure generation and review, performing compliance review, third-party security assessment, identity and access management, managing third-party security monitoring team, leading / coordinating external security assessment / audit, etc. I was later promoted to a role of team-lead where I managed a team of 4 people and was the project manager for several PCI-DSS remediation works. I spent about 3 years at the insurance company. As of now, I am attached to an international bank and I am attached to the security monitoring team. Responsibilities includes monitoring and identifying security threats. I've been with the bank for over a year now.


Professional certification wise, I have several network security product certification, ISC2 CISSP and ISACA CISM.


I would like to apply for a job with any Big 4, particularly in the areas of Assurance / Cyber Security but am currently held back because I do not have any Bachelor's degree. I have tried sending an email to all Big 4 asking if they would accept applicant's without Bachelor's degree but the reply is usually automated or no replies at all. Does anyone have any insight on Big 4's hiring procedure and if they would consider applicant without Bachelor's degree but with relevant experience and professional certification?

DoubleNNs

Forbes Welcome

https://medium.com/this-happened-to-me/four-steps-to-google-without-a-degree-8f381aa6bd5e

Why Google doesn't care about college degrees, in 5 quotes | VentureBeat | Education | by Gregory Ferenstein

Google hiring non-graduates - Business Insider

Sure, all the above are about Google. But you can apply the same to any big company out there. Having a degree would benefit you, but it alone wouldn't get you into the company. Same w/ not having one.. it's not the end of the world, but you will have to work harder to stand out.

Hammer80

My wife is an accountant and has worked in the Big 4 so I have some inside knowledge. I am sorry to be the bearer of some bad news but without a Bachelor's degree you have no chance at cracking the BIG 4 accounting firms. They have tendency to be very elitist and won't even talk to you without a degree no matter the certifications or credentials that you currently posses, this is part of the uber conservative nature of the Big 4. In other industries you will not have that issue but with Accounting firms like the Big 4 that is the nature of the beast.

5ekurity

I will echo what Hammer said - prior to my current job, had an opportunity with PwC that didn't materialize as I didn't have my Bachelor's degree despite my other qualifications.

jamthat

I was with Deloitte for a while. The closest I saw people without Bachelor's degrees come to getting in was contractors trying to transfer over to become full-time (from internal helpdesk to a client-facing role, etc), but that never materialized.

I believe they do substitute work experience, but the rule is 4 years work experience for every 1 year of education. So...associates + 8 years work, you're good. No education + 16 years experience, you're good. Does this mean they can consider you? Sure..but I'm betting they'll still prefer candidates with degrees. Not sure if this policy applied company-wide or not - I was in AERS.

fuz1on

A bachelors degree is a Big 4 employee prerequisite to my knowledge.