> Degrees remain important as CV items and have a lot of vestigial traction
I really don't think that's true anymore besides for starting. But once you start, the degree bears only some weight when aiming for higher roles that hold a political status/value.
I agree with the rest of your post, but I also think there should be a wider distinction between a degree in computer science, software engineering and "computing".
E.g. in Italy we have a degree for all three: computer science leans more heavily on the side of theory and math, software engineering is mostly an engineering degree with more programming-related exams and computing (which we call "Informatica") is the one which leans more than the rest on the practical side of programming while having much less exams on the theoretical and engineering side.
Here in Spain it's "ingeniería informática" it's what is means. a bit of EE, huge on CS, and a good chunk on math. No software engineering. The software trade degree it's another thing, and legally it can't be called an engineering degree.
I really don't think that's true anymore besides for starting. But once you start, the degree bears only some weight when aiming for higher roles that hold a political status/value.
I agree with the rest of your post, but I also think there should be a wider distinction between a degree in computer science, software engineering and "computing".
E.g. in Italy we have a degree for all three: computer science leans more heavily on the side of theory and math, software engineering is mostly an engineering degree with more programming-related exams and computing (which we call "Informatica") is the one which leans more than the rest on the practical side of programming while having much less exams on the theoretical and engineering side.