Having a particular degree is less important than understanding the basics. Unfortunately, it is possible to advance quite far as a developer without understand

Having a particular degree is less important than understanding the basics. Unfortunately, it is possible to advance quite far as a developer without understanding the basics. And although true incompetents are quickly weeded out, there is another aspect: maintenence. Often people move from job to job, producing working, but sub-optimal solutions, and leave an enormous maintenence burden behind. At my first job after graduating we had a self-taught architect/god/guru who never bothered with primary keys. One of our systems started slowing to a crawl. I added primary keys, and some indexes and suddenly I was a whizz kid. Another time I went for a job interview with an architect who was an actual architect (i.e. he studied designing buildings, not software systems). He didn't understand the concept of database normalization. Needless to say, I didn't take the offer. Some of the best, and worst developers I've worked with had no degrees. On the other hand, CS majors were generally a "safe pair of hands", especially after they got a few years experience behind them.. If credentialling guaranteed a basic level of competence, with, or without a degree, I think it's a great idea.