| Build something. This transcends geography. Show competency by building something that demonstrates your technical ability. Better yet, build 2 things. Be able to demo your projects, and talk at length about the technical challenges in building them. That said, your best best is always going to be small / medium sized companies. Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are mostly going to be looking for solid CS fundamentals in their interview. Unless you've taken a Data Structures & Algorithms class recently, you can forget working there. |
I gotta second the above statement. A software engineering job often has so many unqualified applicants that it's just not practical to give every applicant a courtesy phone call. In these cases, a CS degree requirement is a way to filter out the people who are spamming their resume; or the crazies who just don't understand the kind of experience that the job requires.
That being said, it doesn't hurt to couch-surf in Silicon valley for a week or two. There are a lot of (cough) "startups" that need dirt-cheap developers that you can meet at every single networking event. You'll have 2-3 years of putting up with stupid ideas that go belly up every few months, but as you build your network, you'll eventually find someone who values your skills and forgets that you don't have a pedigree.