[blululu]

You're trying to frame this about college degree vs none. I'm sure that's a valid point and a college degree has value, but that's not relevant if we are talking about a degree in CS vs a degree in EE/Math/Physics. CS degree does not mean that you follow direction or work within a rigid structure any more than a degree in any other mathematical science. The Leet Code question biases the evaluation very strongly to tidbits of CS trivia that may or may not be relevant to the actual job. This will filter out someone with a background in say electrical engineering, even if the job is about doing linear algebra and signal processing (areas where EE is probably a better training than CS).

[93po]

That's a fair point