[quote name='Mike2343' timestamp='1306173496' post='4814669']
Some companies look for self taught first. Having worked on open source projects or having a game you can demo is required for this though, then a test.

Seen several studies that showed college/university graduates tend to make the same as high school graduates but are saddled with that lovely debt in most cases. All the companies I worked for didn't pay based on education level but on ability. College is good for making corporate drones though ;-) Yes, I'm biased, I am self taught.

Can you name some of these companies? I can't remember the last job opening I seen that didn't require a B.S. in something. The job market 10 years ago is quite different from the one today. It is also proven that people with degrees make considerably more over their lifetime then people without degrees. People with degrees generally get promoted faster and higher then people without degrees as well (hence the more money thing). Not saying you can't get a job without a degree but in todays economy you are putting yourself at a severe disadvantage if you don't. Have fun being a code monkey 15 years from now when all the corporate drones have moved on to better jobs.
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I don't think anyone looks for self taught first but most companies will consider self taught applicants if they are impressive enough despite requiring a degree in the ads.
Impressive is relative, most CS students who are interested in game development will have a few smaller freeware or opensource games under their belts when they graduate so you need to be really good or really lucky to get a foot in without a degree) Someone like Linus Torvalds for example would have gotten hired quite easily even without a degree (He and his work was quite famous internationally long before he graduated in 1996).

So if you are self taught, make sure the company you want to work for knows who you are or atleast know about some of your work. (Mods can be a good option here), While it might not say much about your technical skills anything they recognize will increase the chances that they'll look more deeply at your application or give you an interview. (Having made a bunch of unreleased but very impressive tech demos is pointless if they don't even bother looking at them)

Some companies look for self taught first.

I would not advise aspiring programmers to count on this. I imagine that any company that discounts degrees would have to be a company headed by someone without a degree.
There is a valuable point in what Mike is saying, but it's not in Mike's words. That point is that the right portfolio can overcome lack of degree. But in the resume filtering process, lack of degree will be a problem at the majority of companies (the portfolio won't be looked at, the resume will be filtered out). This only applies to inexperienced applicants (those applicants who cannot point to industry experience on the resume) who are trying to break in for the first time.