> It's just not that impressive. If you want to work at a startup in SF, your output and immediate impact are most important.
First, my experience is that startups are good for 'entry level work' - they pay a lot less than the big companies do. Unless you are at the very top (and in that case, a degree from an elite school matters a lot to VC, I am told) you are better off at a larger company, unless you don't care about money. And SF is... well, it's SF. Especially if you are like me, an unstylish, overweight nerd[1], you are much more of a 'cultural fit' in the valley. (it's stupid that sort of thing matters, but it does.)
Next? at least at the big companies, while a degree in general doesn't make all that much difference (I don't have a degree myself, and I'm at google right now, though I'm a contractor. I don't think a degree from a easy to get into school would make any difference to my pay rate) - a degree from Stanford or Berkeley is a different sort of thing. Half the big companies in the valley came out of Stanford, and we still use little bits of BSD every day. Lots of people at the big companies were educated at those schools, but almost none of them are down with the marginal folks, the contractors like me. (to be clear, I'm only marginal at one of the top-tier big companies like google. At Yahoo, for instance, I was pretty good. Not the best of the best, certainly, but well out of the marginal category I am in now. I suspect I might be good enough to be an employee at Facebook or Linkedin, even, though that has yet to be tested. Everything is relative, especially standards.)
First, my experience is that startups are good for 'entry level work' - they pay a lot less than the big companies do. Unless you are at the very top (and in that case, a degree from an elite school matters a lot to VC, I am told) you are better off at a larger company, unless you don't care about money. And SF is... well, it's SF. Especially if you are like me, an unstylish, overweight nerd[1], you are much more of a 'cultural fit' in the valley. (it's stupid that sort of thing matters, but it does.)
Next? at least at the big companies, while a degree in general doesn't make all that much difference (I don't have a degree myself, and I'm at google right now, though I'm a contractor. I don't think a degree from a easy to get into school would make any difference to my pay rate) - a degree from Stanford or Berkeley is a different sort of thing. Half the big companies in the valley came out of Stanford, and we still use little bits of BSD every day. Lots of people at the big companies were educated at those schools, but almost none of them are down with the marginal folks, the contractors like me. (to be clear, I'm only marginal at one of the top-tier big companies like google. At Yahoo, for instance, I was pretty good. Not the best of the best, certainly, but well out of the marginal category I am in now. I suspect I might be good enough to be an employee at Facebook or Linkedin, even, though that has yet to be tested. Everything is relative, especially standards.)
[1]https://prgmr.com/~lsc/images/luke_at_2972.png