Despite the Silicon Valley's somewhat undeserved reputation for breaking with tradition, at least having attended a top university is so close to being a requirement in SV that it might as well be. Try getting a job at a top-flight SV company without a degree, or even with a degree that wasn't from an Ivy League school...you'll find it nearly impossible. There are exceptions to every rule, but if you don't plan to work for yourself, you'd better either have a decade or more of solid, demonstrable experience that yielded exceptional results, or have a degree from a top school.

Yeah so I think that's where I see things differently over here in Australia. While 'degree leads to higher income' is still a common belief here, I don't think that there's that requirement to have a degree, let alone from a top uni (like you mentioned in SV).

Although I'm still relatively early in my career (23 years old) - Lacking a degree has never been a problem for me and I've still ended up in a pretty well paid job.

New Zealand seems to be similar, with the added bonus that we only have a handful of universities so there is no distinction between 'good universities' and 'the rest'.

You'll find HR consultants for pretty much all big companies and govt (incl Fonterra, TradeMe, GCSB, IRD, Frucor, to name a few) will throw your CV in the trash if you don't have a degree. Luckily in this country it's much easier to get your foot in the door through meet-and-greet.

Want to meet a developer from Xero? Tweet 'em. No luck? Ask somebody you know if they know someone who works there, likely they or someone they know does.

I got an offer from a famous SV company and I went to a mediocre public university.

I don't have ten years of experience, and I don't think I'm particularly exceptional. I think you're just being more pessimistic than is warranted. SV is definitely not a perfect meritocracy but it's not exactly France circa 1788 either.

I find it hard to believe that a top tier degree is required for anyone with 5+ years experience. Is that actually true?

The degree is a filter to get the interview. Once you're in the door your skills are what matters. But you have to get in the door.

My buddy Tom and I went to the same college at the same time. I graduated; he didn't. We've worked at 7 different companies together over 20 years, at essentially the same level. Sometimes I get hired and get him in; sometimes the opposite.

But I have to admit my graduate credentials get me the interview sometimes, and that's what gets us in. So not having a college degree can be a bar to entry. A very real problem.

The question should also be asked, "Or is it a Keynesian beauty contest?"

Or my preferred theory, which is that you have to put up with a lot of bullshit in order to get a degree, and you also want to hire employees that can put up with a lot of bullshit in order to get necessary work done. The kind of smooth-talking folks who can convince you to hire them without a degree might be naturally suited to sales... which is one of the few fields where you don't need the degree anyway.