I think actually the opposite is more likely to be true (despite having studied CS myself). A degree in computer science is probably among the easiest to do without, career-wise: solid coders are employable without a degree, especially if you get some stuff up on github or elsewhere on the internet.

But non-technical people with no degree are not very easily employable at all, at least outside the service industry. A nontechnical person with a generic B.A. gets qualified for all sorts of office jobs, like most companies' HR departments, many jobs in advertising, etc., that are closed to the same nontechnical person with only a high-school diploma.

"A degree in computer science is probably among the easiest to do without, career wise: solid coders are employable without a degree..."

That's like saying an MD is easiest to do without if you're looking to be something other than a doctor. Coders are not Computer Scientists. It's like comparing a physicist to an electrician. Being a good coder is a craft much, much more than it is a science. While I'm very tired of college being a requisite for middle class lifestyle in the US, I also feel like these threads wind up being areas where people write off the CS degree as unnecessary without applying enough context.

Career-wise, if you're looking to do research in computing, computational theory, develop novel algorithms, solve deep problems on the frontier of what it means to be "computable", or just effectively reinvent your own wheel and prove that it works..CS is still VERY relevant to this end.

While I don't perceive CS as a program to inherently producing good coders, I also don't perceive the generic good coder as someone I'd turn to to help me create novel algorithm (read no prior documentation, no prior code, very little academic work) to solve a previously unsolved problem. Look at Facebook and Google...Google at its early form and Facebook as it reconciled its data into the form of the social graph while wrangling a huge codebase...do you think they got where they were by hiring armies of people who were "good coders" that decided to forgo the foundations of algorithms and Computer Science? No way. Thus, if this kind of work what you want as a career path, the CS degree is still very relevant as its topics can be very relevant to your career's future.

TLDR: Are good coders very employable? Very yes. Does that mean that CS is readily discarded for all as a good career move? I likely think not.

I agree with the rest of your post.

I do CS research in academia for a living, so I certainly agree that CS research is interesting, and that universities are relevant to it. ;-)

But I'm not sure that a CS bachelor's is actually as a career move necessary for that. Most people with CS bachelor's degrees do not get researchy jobs, or even vaguely algorithm-creation jobs; and many of the companies doing algorithm-type stuff (you mention Facebook) are the most willing to hire people without degrees. The vast majority of jobs for CS majors are programming jobs, though; that's who hires and is looking for the degree, and where most majors end up. If anything there's pressure on CS programs to move more towards preparing them better for that career path--- more C++, more software engineering, more team projects, less theory.

>But I'm not sure that a CS bachelor's is actually as a career move necessary for that.

You're probably right, from a technical standpoint, but it's going to be far easier to get that first professional gig if you have a CS degree.

I think you're right. I think it's unfortunate that it's come down to this point where the degree is making itself less and less relevant by getting away from its own roots. Glad to hear you like it too :-D!