+1 The best software engineers that I have worked with over the last 30+ years were (in order) Music, Maths and Chemistry graduates, not forgetting another star who was not a graduate at all. The worst have all been software engineering graduates. YMMV.

A lot of people seem to discount work ethic, and their attitude for learning. People who have a thirst for knowledge and constantly seek incremental improvements are going to be in the long run the people who are going to be more successful than their less motivated counterparts. Your degree and ability to work successfully in a workplace are not mutually inclusive. Just as how a 2400/36 on the SAT/ACT does not mean the student will excel in college. AKA correlation does not imply causation.

It might be worth mentioning that several top tier companies (including Google and Apple) no longer require applicants to even have degrees. Enough experience can get them an interview, at which point they're simply judged by their abilities.

@LordFarquaad then go try applying to them without a degree, and tell me the success rate

@feynman errr... I mean, I can't go unget my degree, but I can tell you I've got a degree from a college you've never heard of, and I got a job with Google on my third try, so.... 33%? I'm not sure why you won't accept that your abilities at present are the main hiring factor when everyone here is telling you that.

@LordFarquaad congrats. a firm hires all kinds of ppl filling positions from the low to the high. no wonder ppl w lower degrees get in. even if they remove degrees as entry thresholds, does that change a lot? u compete w ur peers, not degrees

"That's almost never true". I wish that were the case, but unfortunately some people do prefer not to hire people smarter than they are. Usually there is a rationalization. Not that it happens all the time, but it does happen.

@DJClayworth That's why the "almost" is there. :)

If you're of high intelligence, you should be able to explain concepts in an interview to people who have less knowledge in those fields. This is a highly regarded talent, to quickly judge whether people understand your concepts and how you can adjust on the fly. I would not hire somebody who could not explain advanced or differing concepts to me.

@DJClayworth fortunately companies where the pointyhairs (mis)managing things only want people dumber than they are are crappy places you don't want to work for; so interviewing at the top of your ability is still the correct approach. It's the winning plan in places you want to work at, and will help you avoid the terrible ones.

@DanNeely right. if u give ur best shot, u might find its not a place u wanna work at. but then u might also not get an offer, if u need it

@RedSonja i dont get u

"you" is short enough, no need to abbreviate it with "u". Same goes for other words. The amount of abbreviations makes reading your comments harder.

@feynman Doing things like replacing 'you' with 'u', 'with' with 'w' and not using capital letters at the start of sentences are not considered appropriate on this site. In fact these days it's probably not acceptable on most websites, Text-speak has pretty much become antiquated.

@feynman I know people who have got jobs in places where the requirement stated "must have a degree of grade x" without having a degree but instead having impressive experience or a portfolio. I have never met anyone who has managed to replace the "x years of experience" requirement with a degree and i doubt that i ever will. you might not like it, but your education is a starting point, not a lifelong guarantee of your worth

What does "reputed schools produce good grades" mean? Should "grades" be "graduates" or something?

@stannius Try "reputed schools produce graduates with good grades".

I'm not sure what you mean by "that reputed schools produce good grades". Maybe it was a typo? Surely you're not making the common but obviously flawed assumption that a grade at an easy school is equivalent to the same grade at a tough school? Think of a degree from a "Most Competitive" school as being equivalent to running the Olympic Marathon. Just qualifying for the Olympic Marathon is passing a very high bar. Running an open marathon does not indicate that such a high bar has been passed. But the fastest runners in an open marathon could have made it into the Olympic Marathon.

@feynman If the way you're typing your comments is any shape of form representative of how you interact with your prospective employers online, your experience/degrees (or lack thereof) might not be your main issue.

@Tharpa Tough != Reputable. There are quite a few universities in the world with a very good reputation that are outright terrible at teaching anything and produce less than mediocre graduates. An example I like to give is USP, allegedly one of the best universities in Brazil. Not a single one of its graduates where useful to write any sort of working software. We found way more talented people in smaller, lesser know universities. Keep in mind that having money and good connections - things that help you a LOT to get a "reputable" college - don't help much on your actual capabilities.

The best developer in our organization did an apprenticeship as baker, and the second best as machine technician. Background means zilch if you're good at what you do and have the drive to improve.