text: how do employers view degrees/certificates from online schools? do online degrees, particularly those from schools that are primarily or exclusively online, carry the same weight as a traditional degree? honestly, it depends on the employer, the position, and what you hope to do with the degree.   if you want to move up within your own company, in all likelihood an online degree will help you. it won't hurt you.   however, if you plan to change employers, some employers do not consider certain online degrees on par with degrees from brick-and-mortar universities.   to be completely blunt, if i were looking at your resume, and you had an online degree from some online school, there is no way i'd hire you. however, if you had an online degree from a reputable university, like rpi - they have a great rep as a brick-and-mortar university, and so that carries over to their online degrees - i'd hire you. likewise, an online degree from umass, i'd hire you. but from u phoenix? to be quite honest, i'd pass.