[willarson]

I would take the first job. Many people without a complete formal education have this fear about the things they should know. They also assume that if they had only completed a CS major they would in fact understand these things. Unfortunately this doesn't play out.

I graduated with a CS major, and many of my classmates who graduated with the same did not have a very strong grasp on "algorithms, performance, or what makes beautiful code". Don't let the lack of a formal CS education distress you. The students who know the most are the ones who are off doing their own projects and working with each other to create things, those who charge through the curriculum learn a lot, but don't internalize the knowledge, and thus retain little of it.

[steve]

Yes, A for sure. The guys at B probably have some actual work to do other than teaching you all day long.