[coralreef]

Are they generally smarter than the applicants of CS grads they compete with? Or is the market just that hot? Since they don't have CS backgrounds, I'm guessing most of their coding is probably front-end product building, or is that false?

[jamesbrewer]

A lot of it has to do with the price of living here. I'm about to move out of a 1 bedroom apartment that I pay $1,800/month for, and that's a pretty decent deal compared to some of the places I looked.

It's hard to say though. I dropped out of university (CS major) after two years and I have spent most of my time building out the front-end of multiple projects. That is not to say that is true for all or even most people.

Personally, I don't like asking whether one person is smarter than another. Everybody brings their own set of experiences to the table, making each people smart in their own right.

I also don't believe that holding a degree in computer science necessarily makes a person a better developer. Sure, there is some correlation because those driven to computers are probably driven to computer science in college, but there are plenty of people with no passion that get a CS degree because they heard they could make some money.

Who knows? It's a little bit of everything, I guess. :)