I wonder if you realize that in many countries, computer science was a very obscure academic path until very recently. Most schools in France wouldn't offer it

I wonder if you realize that in many countries, computer science was a very obscure academic path until very recently. Most schools in France wouldn't offer it until very late for example. The older, more experienced people at these companies you cite are the ones less likely to have CS degrees, which only became a staple recently. The companies now ask for one because it's an easy mass fizzbuzz filter. It doesn't help them get the best engineers, it helps them not get the worst ones. They have the volume to make up for it. Saying what they're doing shows ignorance as to why it's working.