[legerdemain]

Regarding the lack of a degree, the author writes "I believe it matters less over time." This is a narrative I've been hearing for twenty years.

Can we point to any published stats about tech companies, in the US or elsewhere, hiring a higher fraction of engineering candidates with less than a bachelor's degree?

Similarly, can we point to any published stats illustrating the growing ability of startup founders without an exclusive education background to get funding? (No, "dropped out of Stanford to go work with Joe Lonsdale" doesn't count.)

[weego]

CS degree demands are absolutely quite biased towards US company mentality. I self taught at 18 and have never had anyone from a European company, some of which would certainly be called globally known, mention my CV doesn't list any education, ask about it in interviews or subsequently mention it during employment, and i know a fair few people at those jobs had similar stories.

To be fair I'd note a number of people I got to know did have degrees in other STEM fields.

My only run in with a similar issue was not being suitable to be presented as CTO for one company because it was STEM related and everyone else has PHDs.

[yardie]

In my experience it has been the opposite. US companies are quite liberal about education requirements: lots of experience + no degree, some experience + unrelated degree, STEM degree, or CS degree. My experience (French and German companies), you either have the degree that matches the position or you have an overwhelming amount of experience they can't ignore you. I was turned down many times over not having a CS degree from top US university (majority of Americans go to local state colleges).

[skinnymuch]

Majority of Americans don’t have a degree. Though yeah of the subset that do have degrees, most aren’t going to top ranked schools like you said.

[yardie]

A lot of it comes down to familiarity. Most French companies know of Ivies, Stanford, and MIT. Most Americans couldn’t tell you of a French university beyond La Sorbonne (Paris IV).

In my time there I learned a lot about the difference between university and grand écoles.

[azinman2]

Some people are able to learn in the field and grow accordingly... especially if your specialty ends up being something like Linux kernel engineering where you can learn from how others do it. That said, most people aren't super talented sponges that can excel and push themselves without proper structure and guidance. You might have an exceptional mind; we also need solutions that address the rest of us, and I'm not so sure that a MOOC is long-term a great solution for most.