I'm a member of an older generation (in college 88-92). It's interesting how few of my cohort (a) have a formal CS degree or (b) would tick even most of the box

I'm a member of an older generation (in college 88-92). It's interesting how few of my cohort (a) have a formal CS degree or (b) would tick even most of the boxes that were possible in 1992. Back then, many if not most CS programs were super behind industry, so what got you hired wasn't your coursework in FORTRAN. It was what you did outside of class, in independent projects or (a surprising amount of the time) for money on the side. Many programmers in their late 40s-early 50s don't have ANY degree, because they learned on their own and then got a job early, without completing (or even matriculating to) college. This left large holes in what they knew, if measured by this list, but generally speaking they were still pretty fantastic developers. How this applies to someone in school NOW is absolutely unclear. I suspect the answer isn't "not at all," but I also doubt it's been possible to get hired in a professional developer job right out of high school for at least 20 years. It's hard for me to imagine how an 18 year old could know enough; the field is so much bigger now.