Can You Get a Sales Job Without a Degree? Yes, and Here's How

Yes, you can get a sales job without a degree. Most sales jobs, including entry-level tech sales roles like sales development representative (SDR), don't need one to do the work well. Some employers still list a degree in their job posts, so the trick is to show proof of your skills and reach hiring managers directly.

Our pick for building that proof is the CourseCareers Technology Sales course. It's our course, so we're biased, but it teaches the skills SDR hiring managers test, plus the job search, for $499.

I landed my first tech sales job at 18 without a degree, so I've been on your side of this question. Below, we cover the data on degree requirements, the easiest sales jobs to land, how a degree compares with a bootcamp or a self-paced course, and a step-by-step plan. For the bigger picture, see our roadmap for getting into tech sales with no experience.

Key takeaways

• Most sales jobs don't need a degree, but many job posts still ask for one. When O*NET asked tech and scientific sales reps what a new hire needs, 39% said a bachelor's degree.
• Dropping a degree requirement on paper doesn't always change hiring. A 2024 Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School study found about 45% of companies that dropped it kept hiring much the same way.
• Retail, inside sales, and car sales are often the easiest sales jobs to land without a degree. Tech SDR and BDR roles take more proof but lead to account executive. Insurance and real estate need a state license instead.
• Replace the degree with proof: sales skills, time in the tools, a sample outreach sequence, and direct messages to sales leaders.
• Our pick: the CourseCareers Technology Sales course, our own self-paced course on SDR skills, sales tools, and the job search, for $499 one time or four payments of $150.

What's on this page

• Do you need a degree for sales?
• Is there a sales degree?
• Sales jobs you can get without a degree
• How to make up for no degree
• Degree vs bootcamp vs self-paced training
• A 7-step plan
• My story: a tech sales job at 18 with no degree
• Why we recommend our course
• Frequently asked questions

Do You Need a Degree for Sales? What the Data Shows

No. Nothing about selling requires a degree. But plenty of employers still ask for one in job posts, so it helps to know where that filter shows up.

Some of the best data comes from O*NET, a federal occupation database sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. It asked workers who sell technical and scientific products how much education a new hire needs. 39% said a bachelor's degree, 30% some college, and 14% a high school diploma. By our math, the last two answers add up to 44%, more than the share who said a bachelor's.

The skills-based hiring trend, and its limits

Many large employers say they're dropping degree requirements and hiring for skills. It has changed less than the headlines suggest. A February 2024 report from the Burning Glass Institute and Harvard Business School tracked what happened after companies took degree requirements out of their job posts. About 45% made the change in name only, with no real difference in who they hired (Harvard Business School and Burning Glass Institute).

So the degree filter mostly lives in job posts and applicant tracking systems, the software that sorts applications before a person reads them. The sales managers who make the call mostly want reps who can start conversations and book meetings. Show them you can, and a missing degree matters a lot less.

And sales pays for results, not credentials. In The Bridge Group's 2025 report, median SDR on-target earnings (OTE) were $80,000, split about $55,000 base and $25,000 commission.

Is There a Sales Degree? What to Study If You Go to College

Yes, but sales degrees are rare. A small number of colleges offer a professional sales major, minor, or certificate, usually inside a business degree. Outside those programs, business and marketing are the closest fits.

The Sales Education Foundation counted 37 professional sales majors and 81 minors in 2021, up from 18 of each in 2011 (Sales Education Foundation). The University of Toledo, for example, offers a Bachelor of Business Administration with a major in professional sales.

What's the best degree for sales?

If you're set on college, a dedicated sales program is the most direct choice, since it teaches selling directly. Business or marketing come next, and communications and psychology build skills salespeople use daily. But no major is required to get hired as an SDR. When I was job hunting, the posts that asked for a degree rarely cared which one.

When a degree is the better call

A degree can make sense if grants make it cheap for you, if you want a career outside sales that requires one, or if you want the college experience. After grant aid, first-time, full-time in-state students at public four-year colleges paid an estimated $2,300 a year in net tuition and fees on average in 2025-26 (College Board). Housing, books, and four years of your time come on top.

Sales Jobs You Can Get Without a Degree

Retail, inside sales, and car sales are often the easiest sales jobs to land without a degree. Entry-level tech roles like SDR and BDR take more proof, but they lead to account executive. Insurance and real estate don't need a degree, but they do need a state license.

For pay growth, we think SDR or BDR roles in tech are the strongest start. The trade-off is competition, so you'll need more proof than for retail or call center work. Any customer-facing job above still helps your résumé later.

See every entry-level title in the field in 10 tech sales job titles beginners should target. Not sure sales fits you? Read how to know if a sales career is right for you.

How to Make Up for Not Having a Degree

Replace the degree with proof. Entry-level sales hiring managers want to see that you understand the job, can talk and write to strangers, and know the basic tools.

Learn the skills and the tools

Start with prospecting, cold calling, cold email, LinkedIn messages, discovery questions, and handling objections. Then get hands-on with a CRM such as Salesforce or HubSpot. HubSpot's CRM has a free version, and every HubSpot Academy certification course is free, including Inbound Sales. Employers train you on their own setup, so aim for comfort, not mastery.

Build a small proof kit

• A one-page profile listing what you've studied, the tools you've used, and any certificates
• A sample outreach sequence for a real company: two short emails, a LinkedIn note, and a call opener
• A skills-first résumé that highlights customer-facing work like retail or serving (see how to write an SDR résumé)
• A LinkedIn headline saying you're looking for SDR or BDR roles

Go around the résumé filter

Apply online so you're in the system, then message the person who runs the sales team. A recruiter may be told to require a degree, but a sales director or VP usually has more room to make an exception. For what managers look for once you're talking, read what it takes to get hired as a first-time SDR.

Business Degree vs Sales Bootcamp vs Self-Paced Training

For a first sales job, a self-paced course built around the SDR role usually gives you the best mix of speed and cost. A degree is the slowest and most expensive path, and a bootcamp sits in between. The real question is what each one lets you show a hiring manager.

The degree's hidden cost is time. Grants cut the price for many students, but four years is four years without sales income or reps. A bootcamp's live schedule helps if you struggle to study alone, but quality is uneven. Ask how any outcome numbers were measured and, with an income share agreement, the most you could ever pay. A self-paced course fits around work, but nobody checks in if you skip a week. Our comparison of the best tech sales courses for beginners shows how to tell the good ones apart.

Whatever you choose, employers still expect to train you. The average SDR ramp was 3.0 months in The Bridge Group's 2025 report. What they screen for is whether you can do the core tasks, have used the tools, and can show it.

Our recommendation: if your goal is a first sales job, take a focused self-paced course instead of a four-year detour. We built the CourseCareers Technology Sales course around the SDR job: prospecting, cold calls, cold email, LinkedIn, CRM tools, discovery, and the job search. It costs $499 and takes weeks, not years. Add a free HubSpot Academy certificate for extra proof.

A 7-Step Plan to Get a Sales Job Without a Degree

Take these seven steps in order. Learning takes a few weeks to a few months of steady study, and outreach and interviews often take several more weeks.

1. Pick your target job. For strong pay growth, that's usually SDR or BDR.
2. Learn the core skills listed above.
3. Practice with the tools in HubSpot's free CRM, and finish one free HubSpot Academy course.
4. Build your proof kit.
5. Make a target list of 10 to 20 companies hiring for your role, and apply on each company's own site.
6. Contact the sales leader with a short note: why them, what you've learned, and a link to your proof.
7. Follow up and get ready. Follow up by phone and email for a week or two, and practice a mock cold call, since many SDR interviews include one.

Steps 5 to 7 are a small sales campaign, so the hiring manager sees you do the job before the first interview.

My Story: A Tech Sales Job at 18 With No Degree

I started out with no degree and very little experience. In high school I'd sold roofing door to door, sold signs, and even sold mobile homes. I wanted tech sales because I loved how technology could reshape whole industries.

So I studied the entry-level SDR role and combed through as many job descriptions as I could. The same three asks kept showing up: good communication, basic computer skills, and a college degree, usually in any major. To me, that meant the degree was a screening shortcut, not a skill the job needed.

So I made a bet: learn the SDR job more deeply than other applicants, and a company would choose me over a college graduate. I studied about 12 hours a day for roughly a month. Books, online courses, YouTube channels, and blogs taught me how sales cycles work, how to prospect, and how to cold call. Next, I put together a profile page that laid out everything I'd studied. On my applications, it stood in for the degree I didn't have. And instead of relying on job boards, I went to the sales leaders themselves, the way an SDR prospects a buyer. That approach is a big part of what we teach today.

Why We Recommend the CourseCareers Technology Sales Course

We recommend our CourseCareers Technology Sales course because it's built to replace the degree with proof. It's self-paced, takes about 4 to 12 weeks, and covers sales basics, cold calling, cold email, LinkedIn outreach, CRM and sales engagement tools, and discovery. The Career Launchpad section then walks you through the job search, and you finish with a final exam and a certificate of completion.

Your instructor, Trent Dressel, started in tech sales at a major SaaS company with no connections and became a senior account executive within four years. He has made more than 900 YouTube videos about tech sales careers.

It costs $499 one time, or four payments of $150 every two weeks, and there's a free intro course to try first. You get 14 days to switch courses or get a refund, as long as you haven't taken the final exam.

In our 2025 Outcomes Report, graduates of our Technology Sales course who landed a job reported an average starting OTE of about $68,000, up from about $45,000 before the course. OTE is base pay plus expected commission, so their base pay was lower. These are self-reported answers from graduates who had landed a job, so they don't show what every student earns.

What it doesn't do: it can't promise you a job or remove every degree filter. You still have to send the outreach, follow up, and do well in interviews.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best sales jobs without a degree?
For pay growth, tech sales roles like SDR and BDR are a strong pick. Retail, inside sales, and car sales are often easier to land and build useful experience. Insurance and real estate need a state license instead of a degree.

What's the best degree for sales?
A professional sales major is the most direct choice, and some colleges, like the University of Toledo, offer one inside a business degree. Business and marketing are the next closest fits. But you don't need any degree for an entry-level sales job.

Can you make good money in sales without a degree?
Yes. Sales pay is tied to results through commission, not credentials. In The Bridge Group's 2025 report, median SDR on-target earnings were $80,000, and its 2026 report put median account executive OTE at $200,000. Those figures include commission, so base pay is lower, and only about 60% of SDRs hit quota.

Should you apply if a sales job post says a degree is required?
Usually, yes. Apply on the company's site, then contact the sales manager or director directly with proof of your skills. A sales leader who can see you'll do the job well has room to make an exception.

Is a sales bootcamp worth it for an SDR job?
It can be, if you need live classes to stay on track and the program is clear about its results. In our view, most beginners get more for their money from a focused self-paced course.

What's the best tech sales course for beginners?
We recommend our own CourseCareers Technology Sales course, so factor in our bias. It teaches cold calling, cold email, LinkedIn outreach, CRM and sales engagement tools, discovery, and the job search. It costs $499, takes about 4 to 12 weeks, and starts with a free intro course.

Sources

• O*NET OnLine: 41-4011.00, Technical and Scientific Products sales reps (updated 2026)
• Harvard Business School and Burning Glass Institute: Skills-Based Hiring, The Long Road from Pronouncements to Practice (February 2024)
• The Bridge Group: 2025 SDR Models and Metrics Report (published February 2025)
• The Bridge Group: 2026 AE Models, Motions and Metrics (published June 2026)
• College Board: Trends in College Pricing 2025, highlights (2025-26 tuition and fees)
• Sales Education Foundation: Evidence professional sales education is growing (2021 counts)
• University of Toledo: Professional Sales (B.B.A.) (accessed October 2026)
• NIPR: Understanding the insurance licensing process (June 2026)
• National Association of Realtors: Licensing for real estate professionals (accessed October 2026)
• HubSpot: Sales training and certifications (accessed October 2026)
• HubSpot: Free CRM (accessed October 2026)
• CourseCareers Outcomes Report 2025 (survey of CourseCareers graduates)