[Clive_Robinson]

First off can we stop calling programmers "engineers" they are not, they are much closer to being "artisans".

Secondly in my long experience it's not the "engineering managers" that have a degree fixation but the "Human Resources" dept, that usually insist on being in charge of recruitment policy, even though an even smaller percentage of them have a job relevant degree or diploma.

Further if you want decent programmers try looking at people with other types of degree in engineering and science. The thing is CS projects are usually "not real" where as those doing engineering and science degree projects have to design and build real tools in software to do their projects. The difference between CS theoretical and other degree practical programming really stands out. Which was one of the points this article could have gone into more thoroughly.

[OrionSeven]

Your programmers != engineer issue brings up a larger issue I'm always wondering about when people/companies/etc say we have a software engineer shortage.

Just what type of developer are they talking about? There are many types of engineers/developers: front end, back end, write algorithms, do data integration, automate systems, write database queries, real time, graphics, embedded systems, and on and on and on.

So which ones are we talking about? What types of background do they need? The discussion on "the shortage" is always lacking in details.

~ Bryan

PS: I think this issue is also why some say developers != engineers.