I have projects that people consider impressive already. Here is what I've been told from various managers-
>Only hire computer scientists
>I don't have relevant work experience (which means taking a 60k/yr web dev job to begin my career?)
>My projects are good, but I need to contribute to open source projects.
The reason for the degree is to get access to high quality programming jobs rather than 60k/yr web dev. Not to mention, I imagine I'll learn everything about security and algorithms which I'm sure are weaknesses.
You can fix two of those with some solid effort in a high-profile FOSS project for a few months.
As for the first, you don't want to be in an environment that values credentials so strictly, imho - it poisons the air. There is always a chance they would then say "we only hire CS from Stanford/MIT" - sometimes stuff like this is just a polite way of saying "we don't think you can cut it".
> I imagine I'll learn everything about security and algorithms
Algos yeah, plenty - and I agree it's where universities really make a difference (I'm weak there too, and part of the reason for dropping out, and more recently changing career, was that I'm not really interested in that part of the job).
>Only hire computer scientists
>I don't have relevant work experience (which means taking a 60k/yr web dev job to begin my career?)
>My projects are good, but I need to contribute to open source projects.
The reason for the degree is to get access to high quality programming jobs rather than 60k/yr web dev. Not to mention, I imagine I'll learn everything about security and algorithms which I'm sure are weaknesses.