I'm an engineer without a degree and I'm guilty of looking down on those without, but I'd like to justify my actions. Lots of engineers lack the ability to dete

I'm an engineer without a degree and I'm guilty of looking down on those without, but I'd like to justify my actions. Lots of engineers lack the ability to determine not just how to solve the problem (disturbingly common in theoretically competent and seasoned engineers), but the ability to determine which problems need to be solved. Determining how to do the traveling salesman problem in an acceptable time isn't solvable (or if it is to them, they should be doing something better with their time than working with me). Figuring out how to avoid that problem generally is, and I expect candidates to intuit that they shouldn't spend time chasing unsolvable problems. I didn't learn computer science formally, but I did learn it. I don't expect everyone to know exactly what I know, but I do find a degree a useful proxy for some percentage chance of knowing their shit. Industry experience is useful for some additional, knowing what words to put on their resume is part of it too. If they don't pass some combination of the group they're not worth my time, but I have to verify that by interviewing some amount of applicants anyway to check that those are real determining factors.