[jmcgough]

> You write this, but then you go on to mention job interviews, which are becoming more and more algorithmic each passing year.

It's been the opposite experience for me in SF, actually. More startups are realizing that they want people who can build good products quickly, and with more people coming from non-CS backgrounds, they'd rather test for that than see if they can whiteboard a breadth-first search.

I took enough CS coursework to learn the stuff you mentioned, but I've worked with a number of developers who don't know any CS theory. Several of them are stronger engineers than me and have had very successful careers, and I'd rather work with someone who can communicate well and solve hard problems than someone who's read through CLRS.