[usrbinbash]

> what about people without degrees but skills, do they deserve such a job?

What about people with actual problem solving and engineering skills, who worked hard to teach themselves, but are bad in test situations?

Some people cope well with tests. Others don't. Neither tells me ANYTHING about how well they will do as engineers.

> People at this level, as in any domain, are willing to compete fiercely.

But the competition is about "who's the best engineer", not "who was best at memorizing leetcode questions".