I think the best predictor of being a good hacker is products you have built. I was a Electrical Engineer in undergrad, but then went to go for a PhD in microbi

I think the best predictor of being a good hacker is products you have built. I was a Electrical Engineer in undergrad, but then went to go for a PhD in microbiology. When the .com boom hit I wanted to get back to technology, but had been out of it for 5 years. I built up a portfolio of projects and used those as my in to my first job. I was able to submit code samples as well as running applications. The bar at google is high, but I would expect that this tactic would work for them as well (but dont know for sure), but it would have to be something very cool. The company I went to work for only hired people with a graduate degree in engineering (which I didnt have) but they made an exception for me based on the portfolio (and also probably because they were desperate).