The answer to the title question in my experience has been no. I have a CS degree, but never ran into a company irrational enough to care about it either way.

The answer to the title question in my experience has been no. I have a CS degree, but never ran into a company irrational enough to care about it either way. As for whether dropping out of a CS degree is a good idea, that greatly depends, not least on your costs in time and money. If you're going to not get a degree the ideal way to do it would be to skip all of college and some or all of high school, which would give you back 6 to 8 of the best years of your life for self-study and getting moving on a career; that could be far more valuable than a degree. Conversely if you've gone nearly all the way through the system and are currently halfway through final year in college it would make no sense to drop out at this stage. Money also matters. In America particularly, if college will entail crippling yourself with debt you will only be able to get out of by permanently emigrating, you're probably better off just saying no. On the other hand if a high-status college offers you a full ride scholarship, it's probably worth your while to take it.