&gt; &gt; corporations require you to pass their own exam before they hire you<p>&gt; If you&#x27;re talking about software interviews, know that you need to have pedigree even to get an interview. See Twitter or Palantir recruiting.<p>Counterexample: I currently work part-time (alongside my undergraduate studies) at very well-known Linux software company. When being interviewed, there was no mention of any &quot;pedigree&quot;. It was simply that I had contributed to the free software project they were looking for engineers for. Simple as that. You&#x27;ll find that competence is far more important than pedigree. I&#x27;ve always hated the concept of pedigree, it disadvantages people who have skills but are poorer than others. We ought to push for a meritocracy. As a separate matter, higher education should be <i>much</i> cheaper (or just make it free).