> A lot of companies will just throw out applications from candidates without CS degrees, unless those candidates were referred by someone inside the company T

> A lot of companies will just throw out applications from candidates without CS degrees, unless those candidates were referred by someone inside the company To add to this remark, getting hired as a programmer is a show and dance in more than one way. For example, I stuff my resume with specific keywords for the initial recruiters, not the seasoned programmer who in the end interviews me. My advice is to study up on interview coding questions. Half of them have little to do with the actual job. Often people are picking a homework question they had from their sophomore year in college because they don't know better (or they have a bias towards people like them). Is the interview process fair, no. It just isn't. But if you are smart, you'll play the unfair parts in your favor.