Some context, first: I work on infrastructure software. I'll try to define it so it's not so vague: software that is core to the company's platform that has str

Some context, first: I work on infrastructure software. I'll try to define it so it's not so vague: software that is core to the company's platform that has strict performance, stability, and FMEA guarantees. Often the skillset we look for is niche, you need systems skills (broad spectrum, both OS and network) as well as software skills (preferred polyglot; "languages are tools" kind of people). On one hand, I deplore the runaway game that software has let algorithmic knowledge play on our minds. People destroy themselves preparing for interviews at large firms on exciting teams, only to get blown away because someone threw them a curveball in algorithm or systems design knowledge. On the other hand, I've watched developers copy solutions on one screen and transpose them on another. I've hired engineers only to find out they only know the kind of information we would ask in an interview and how to bullshit. College will never provide my team the guarantees we need to make a hire, that much is well-accepted. Being from a "top tier" company is no guarantee either. What I do think is worthwhile is investing in two things simultaneously: 1. An apprenticeship program. I entered software (and mathematics in general) without a degree. These subjects can be learned with self-discipline and having a career that gradually increases in complexity is a perfect aid to this learning process. In my path, it produced a generalist software engineer with a specialty in systems engineering. In another, it could produce a web backend software engineer, a frontend engineer, an infrastructure engineer, etc... 2. A certification exam. I mean something orthogonal to Professional Engineering or the Bar exam. Something entirely divorced from colleges that can prove you can negotiate algorithms and data structures. I believe people who are keen enough to figure this out once can figure it out again when the time is needed, however, in most cases your brains will be put to more abstract talents that are non-numerical in nature. Reserving your sanity for then, rather than depleting it all throughout the interviewing process over the course of your career seems to me to be the optimal choice.