Well first of all the only advantage an affluent background will give you to getting a job at Google is the same advantage it&#x27;d give you for any other employer or any other industry (better school growing up, able to focus on that school instead of working, etc).<p>And we&#x27;re already presupposing that the person in question is sufficiently hard-working and intelligent that they could be a tenure-track professor at a major research institution. I would argue that the vast of majority of folks in that position could get a very good job at Google provided they had the correct skill set.<p>And I don&#x27;t know what part of CS you&#x27;re most interested in, but my degree is in Political Science and after the first shitty one I haven&#x27;t had any trouble finding development work in my tiny city.