Speaking from a hiring manager's perspective: I don't care if you're from a dev bootcamp or an Ivy League school. I care if you care about your craft. Experie

Speaking from a hiring manager's perspective: I don't care if you're from a dev bootcamp or an Ivy League school. I care if you care about your craft. Experience is really hard to quantify, hence the programming tests. They are a crude way to standardized the measurements. But care for your craft comes through right away. I'd ask them about the stuff they are interested in within their domain, then dig a little deeper to see if they have a strong grasp of what they are talking about. Sometimes I'd debate with them. I also find that the best engineers I've ever met came from a variety of countries. They turned out to be amazing team members to work with as well. Once you're no longer just looking at US schools and US dev bootcamps, you get amazing selection. Speaking from an applicant's perspective: Heck yea, study up no matter how trivial you think it is or how it belittles your years of experience. Remember that this crude method is not an accurate measure of the hiring company's potential or yours. It's just a filtering mechanism for both sides to start a dialog.