What Happens When Your Skills Come Before Your Credentials? Emmanuel Quansah’s Story

TL;DR

Emmanuel Quansah spent seven years teaching himself to code before entering structured training. Without a university degree, he faced rejection from employers who screened for credentials, but continued developing his skills until he could demonstrate what he was capable of. Today, he works as an Embedded Systems and Silicon Validation Engineer at Zedulo and helps other aspiring developers through the ALX community.

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For seven years, Emmanuel Quansah taught himself how to code, eventually building a tech career without a degree that most employers overlooked at first glance

As a self-taught developer in Africa's growing tech scene, his interest started with game development, where he explored C# and Unity and gradually taught himself how software worked. 

He was learning consistently, but without a structured pathway, his knowledge remained uneven. He could build, experiment and solve problems, yet there were still gaps in his technical foundations. He also didn't have the credential many employers use as an initial signal of readiness: a university degree.

That didn't stop Emmanuel from learning. But it would eventually become one of the barriers he had to navigate when he started looking for work.

Can Your Skills Matter More Than Your Credentials?

Not having a degree can make the path into technology harder, but it doesn't determine what someone is capable of doing.

Emmanuel's experience sits within a much bigger conversation about how people enter technology careers.

A university degree can provide valuable theoretical knowledge, professional networks and a recognised qualification. For some roles and industries, it remains an important requirement. But a degree is not a guarantee of professional ability either.

Someone can have the right qualification and still need to develop practical skills. Someone else can develop strong technical ability through self-learning, professional training, projects or work experience without having followed the traditional academic route.

The more useful question becomes: What is the person actually capable of doing?

When his brother introduced him to ALX, he already had years of experience teaching himself programming. What he needed was an opportunity to strengthen what he knew, fill in the gaps and work alongside people who were also developing their technical skills.

How Do You Turn Self-Learning Into Real Technical Skills?

Emmanuel used structured learning and peer collaboration to turn scattered experience into deeper technical confidence.

During his training, he encountered C programming and discovered that he genuinely enjoyed working with it.

The learning also pushed him into unfamiliar technical territory. Rather than staying with what he already knew, Emmanuel had to work through new concepts and apply them through projects.

Just as importantly, he became part of a community.

He joined peer-learning sessions, helping other learners with concepts he understood while receiving support in areas where he was still developing. Over time, he became someone others could turn to when they were stuck.

Self-learning had taken him far, but testing his understanding against other people, collaborating and hearing different perspectives, was something new.

For someone entering technology, that matters.

Technical knowledge is rarely developed in isolation at work. Engineers have to explain decisions, review other people's work, ask for help and solve problems collectively. Learning how to do that early can be just as valuable as learning another programming language.

What Happened When Emmanuel Started Looking for Work?

His skills eventually had to compete with the credentials employers were used to looking for.

After completing his training, Emmanuel encountered rejection from employers who focused on his lack of a degree.

It would have been easy to interpret those rejections as proof that his route into technology had reached a dead end. Instead, he kept looking for ways to put his skills in front of people.

While helping Ayadata organise an event at the ALX Hub, Emmanuel mentioned that he was looking for work. That conversation led to an internship. Later, an ALX cohort mate recommended him for an opportunity at Zedulo.

The recruitment process reflected skills-based hiring Africa employers are increasingly turning to, giving Emmanuel the opportunity to demonstrate what he could do through written and programming assessments.

He passed.

He went on to secure a role as an Embedded Systems and Silicon Validation Engineer, moving from years of learning on his own to working professionally with technology at the hardware level.

His story doesn't argue that a degree is unnecessary. It shows that a credential is one way of demonstrating preparation, and for Emmanuel, a different way worked just as well. When employers give candidates meaningful opportunities to demonstrate their ability, they can discover talent that might otherwise be screened out.

What's the Bigger Lesson for Breaking Into Tech Without a Degree?

Your education pathway isn't the same as your potential, though potential still needs something to back it up.

This is where Emmanuel's story is particularly useful for tech talent without a degree considering how to enter the industry.

Not having a degree doesn't mean you should simply apply for jobs and expect employers to overlook the gap.

If you're taking a non-traditional route, you need other ways to demonstrate what you know.

That could mean:

• Building projects that show your technical ability
• Creating a portfolio
• Completing practical training
• Contributing to community or open-source projects
• Taking technical assessments seriously
• Developing communication and collaboration skills
• Finding internships or freelance opportunities
• Being able to explain how you approached a problem and what you learned

The goal is building evidence that you can do the work, not replicating a university degree.

The goal is to build evidence that you can do the work.

And that evidence becomes particularly important when your CV doesn't tell the conventional story.

How Did Emmanuel Go From Proving Himself to Helping Others?

Emmanuel's career transformation has also changed the role he plays in the community around him.

The person who once spent years figuring out programming independently now helps other learners navigate their own technical journeys. As an ALX Coding Club Co-lead and Community Ambassador, Emmanuel shares his knowledge and contributes to the same culture of peer learning that supported his own development.

For him, teaching is also a test of understanding. If you can explain something clearly enough for someone else to grasp it, you probably understand it differently yourself. His ambitions have grown alongside his career. Emmanuel wants to contribute to Africa's presence in hardware design and encourage more people to see technology as something they can create, not simply consume.

Curiosity about what technology could do got him started, and wanting to see what he could do with it kept him going.

Your Path Into Tech Doesn't Have to Look Like Everyone Else's

Emmanuel's story isn't an argument against university education so much as proof that valuable skills can be built in more than one way. A degree can be an important part of someone's journey, alongside structured professional training, self-directed learning, practical experience and community.

For anyone breaking into tech in Africa, what matters is continuing to learn and finding ways to turn that learning into something tangible.

Emmanuel built the skills first and found the structure to prove them at ALX. Explore ALX's programmes and start building your own evidence.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can you get a tech job without a degree?

Yes, depending on the role and employer. Some technology roles require specific academic qualifications, while others place greater emphasis on demonstrated technical ability, portfolios, assessments and relevant experience.

Is a degree necessary for a career in technology?

Not always. A degree can provide valuable theoretical knowledge and open certain career pathways, but professional training, self-learning and practical experience can also contribute to a technology career.

How can I prove my tech skills without a degree?

Build evidence of your ability through practical projects, portfolios, technical assessments, freelance work, internships, community contributions and the ability to clearly explain your work.

What do employers look for in entry-level tech talent?

Alongside technical skills, employers increasingly value problem-solving, analytical thinking, communication, adaptability, collaboration and the ability to keep learning. The World Economic Forum identifies analytical thinking, technological literacy, resilience and flexibility among important skills for the changing workforce. (SAP News Center)

What is the best way to start a tech career?

Start by identifying the area of technology you want to explore, develop the relevant skills through structured or self-directed learning, practise through real projects and gradually build evidence of your ability. You don't need to have your entire career mapped out before taking the first step.