In practice, acquiring the "equivalent experience" is nearly impossible without the degree That's just not true in my experience. A goodly percentage of the ve

In practice, acquiring the "equivalent experience" is nearly impossible without the degree That's just not true in my experience. A goodly percentage of the very best people I've worked with - and the very best people I've hired - have not had a degree in CS. Many do not have a degree full stop. Many of the people I hire who do have degrees aren't being hired because of the degree - they're being hired because of the side project, and their experience of hacking code since they were 11, etc. I think students, especially American students (because that massive personal debt must be worth something...), overestimate the importance of a degree when it comes to hiring.