I would say a definite no. I would pick a self-taught Molecular Biologist over a green CS pretty much every day. I don't know whether the employers you cite would require it, but they shouldn't (and if they do you should consider whether you would want to work for someone with such a narrow view of the world)
I'm probably going to get in trouble saying it on a board like this, but I think that most CS degrees are not very good and the graduates from CS courses tend to be of a pretty low standard, mostly because they are not at all rounded in their knowledge. Maybe I've been unlucky, but I have recruited over several decades and in 5 different countries and have had pretty consistent experience with CS graduates (with the possible exception of Waterloo in Canada). My personal favourite graduates are Mathematicians and Physicists, they normally arrive with more practical programming skills than your average CS graduate because a lot of course work done nowadays is heavily computing oriented and they have all been programming in their jimmies since they were kids. Of course there are exceptions and I'm sure every CS graduate posting on ths board is excellent and of the very highest calibre, but I wouldn't feel any anxiety over presenting yourself as a bona fide programmer just because you have a degree in Molecular Biology. Let the tirades begin... and I'm sorry in advance for the feelings I am bound to have offended. --- In flexcoders@yahoogroups.com, Sherif Abdou <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > A bit off-topic but I was just wondering since i have no reminescense of this and their seems to be a lot of programmers on here I thought I would ask this question. Do you actually need some sort of CS degree or Computer Related degree to get a job say in programming Web Applications or getting a Job at Adobe or MSFT or Google. I have a degree in Molecular Biology with a Chem Minor. I am Self-Taught so let me here some stories. Thanks. > > > ____________________________________________________________________________________ > Looking for last minute shopping deals? > Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping >