I read an article by Paul Graham that talks about how too much emphasis is placed on where people went to school, and it got me thinking about the subject.  I can’t agree more with this line of thinking.  I used to be brainwashed just as much as everyone else seems to be.  “This person MUST be smarter, they went to THAT school.” 

I think that the thing that has changed my mind the most about this phenomenon is the fact that I’ve gotten the opportunity to interview potential developers for several positions in my career.  I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter nearly as much as people say it does.  I’ve come across people from schools that are supposed to be superior that I wouldn’t trust with a bubble sort, and I’ve met people from smaller schools that I would trust to write a compiler.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen it the other way as well, but that just helps make my point.  It doesn’t matter nearly as much as I thought it did.  What’s important is trying to determine what skills the candidate brings to the table, how they work with others, etc.  

Honestly, once a person HAS a job, where they went to school matters even less. I’ve worked with countless developers, both as co-workers and consultants, and I don’t know where most of them went to school.  It doesn’t matter…..the subject rarely even comes up.  The only thing that matters to me is whether or not they can do the job.  It seems to me that we should be focusing more on the stuff that matters when hiring people, and less on the stuff that doesn’t mean as much in the grand scheme of things.