I think there's a balance to be struck. People shouldn't limit their search to people with the correct credentials, and people shouldn't discount education. Hir

I think there's a balance to be struck. People shouldn't limit their search to people with the correct credentials, and people shouldn't discount education. Hiring is hard, and likely will continue to be hard. A computer science degree tends to be about 2 full semesters worth of college credits, or one year of education. Calling a 4-year degree a "computer science degree" is the first misnomer. It is still a liberal arts degree with a major in computer science. Of course one shouldn't expect a fresh grad to have all of the needed skills for commercial software development if they stuck only to their coursework. Internships help, but the intern is at the mercy of the company when it comes to what they get out of it. Even self-taught people can't learn everything in a single year, and have to specialize if they want to find employment, limiting their job opportunities and appeal to employers. Specialization can also increase their expiration date if they picked the wrong stack, but can increase their appeal if they know the right technology at the right time. People also don't differentiate between self-taught programmers who already have a liberal arts degree, and those who do not. What percentage of coding bootcamp graduates have no college education, and what results do they see? If companies want people who have all the skills and experience your company demands, then pay more for senior developers instead of expecting people fresh out of college to fit that role.