If the requirement has a disparate impact on one of those protected classes, you can run into problems in the US. So in the case of plumbers, if a plaintiff ca

If the requirement has a disparate impact on one of those protected classes, you can run into problems in the US. So in the case of plumbers, if a plaintiff can show that you are hiring fewer women because women are less likely to have CS degree—then you would need to show a “demonstrable relationship to the requirements of the job” for a CS degree. However, this isn’t an issue for software developer positions. A CS degree doesn’t have to be absolutely necessary to be able to perform the job, it just needs a demonstrable relationship to the job requirement. There is also already precedent that a degree in a related field does meet that requirement.