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I'm not sure why this is such a problem; a tech degree isn't necessary to be successful as a software developer. It may not even be all that helpful.

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Agreed. I am only one data point, but i have no degree and I am a female dev. We're out there.

As data points go: male developer, serious systems programming background, 1 semester of college.

Maciej Ceglowski is, I think, even worse off than I am. He went to art school. Now he controls the Internet from his perch atop Pinboard.

I went to a liberal arts college and got so well-rounded I can't stop rolling.

I've worked in this industry for a long time, and while I have worked with fantastic self-taught developers from non-tech degrees, it seems to me that they're the exception rather than the rule. I would not hesitate hiring someone without a tech degree based on their experience, but they seem fairly uncommon. Most of the developers I've worked with seem to come from CS/EE backgrounds.

Good developers are all exceptions, not the rule. The majority of CS grads are not in fact effective programmers.

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