> I'd be surprised if lack of degree was a sticking point for a talented coder trying for a job at Apple/Google/Facebook Google contacted me for a position yea

> I'd be surprised if lack of degree was a sticking point for a talented coder trying for a job at Apple/Google/Facebook Google contacted me for a position years ago. I later found out they hire only 1 of 1000 applicants. I talked to the recruiter (before I went back to college) and she said most Google programmers not only have Bachelors, many of them had masters degrees and doctorates. One of the questions involved context switches. I never even heard of context switches again until I went back to school and took my computer organization and architecture class. > any problems getting coding jobs in silicon valley. It never even came up. I have been working in IT professionally for over 20 years. Read about what was happening in 2000-2001. In a scenario like that, when startups are going bust, are not being funded, the economy is in a recession and many programmers are employed, having a Bachelors that can get you into a Fortune 500 company that requires it helps. Also - although I have met CS graduates who can not code, most of the "talented coders" I have met have a college degree. I can count on one hand the ones I can think of who are not (and I include on my hand John Carmack, who I don't even know, but I know he is a talented programmer with a college degree).