[allenc]

Speaking as a UC Berkeley grad w/ many coworkers who weren't from UCB/Stanford (which is common in SV companies), having the school on your resume makes it easier to get noticed from recruiters, but it's just one of many factors considered to "get in the door".

I've seen more companies look for other publicly visible areas of code output: - Github/Stack Overflow/Quora - Blogs/social sites like HN, reddit at times - Open source projects

Internships or experience at well-regarded companies also helps a lot, and once you get through one of these avenues it's easier to keep the ball rolling and get introductions to the hot companies in our industry.

Of course, you still have to pass the interview, regardless of which university you studied in. =)