The best hackers I know didn't necessarily graduate top in the class. A few did and a few didn't. The ones who didn't were usually contributing in other ways -

The best hackers I know didn't necessarily graduate top in the class. A few did and a few didn't. The ones who didn't were usually contributing in other ways - open source or small businesses (sometimes startups but not necessarily). As you stated, most hackers who didn't would ignore any requirements and apply because they wanted to work on posterous. Here are some of my own personal opinions on hiring / schools / etc. Which school you graduated from and rank is rarely even discussed when hiring coders with a few years experience. After 2 years no one will ask you where you graduated in your class. After 8 years no one will care where you went to school, other than possibly as a plus. It's not a decision maker at that point. What the applicant did between graduation and applying to the job is really what matters. This seems to be different for other areas of study (and graduate degrees of course). But this is my experience with coders (bachelor degree holding computer scientist and the like). Both hiring and being one. An individual's family situation, both financial and otherwise, can effect their decisions on schools. Some oft overlooked hackers went to state or local colleges for reasons outside of their control. An example - I knew someone in high school that got into MIT and Northwestern (Chicago area). They ended up cranking through the local college (Northern Illinois University) in 3 years instead. His family had a business and he had to be there to run it. After he finally found someone to manage the family business he ended up being successful and promoted up the chain in a huge company. There are plenty of opportunities outside of the norm. But the burden is on the person applying to show that they are worth investigating further. [EDIT: Syntax]