<p>As long you go to a top 50 program and graduate top 10%, you will be fine. Its different if you want to work on Wall Street (which outside of consulting is dying) or work for the federal govt. </p>
<p>Even in Silicon Valley, the great Stanford holdout, the rules of the game are changing. If you want to start some fly-by-night tech company that gets acquired and promptly shelved by a cash flush BigTech company, then a Stanford degree will help. But youth (25 or younger) and a track record will help much more. After all, there are many, many 35+ year old software engineers with Stanford/MIT/Harvard degrees and right connections still cluelessly swinging for the fences. </p>
<p>And whats the shelf life for a SV software engineers? Maybe 25 years, tops? And how long before software engineering in general is automated, and/or dominated completely by 19-23 year old kids who skip traditional college all together. </p>
<p>Its very likely our economy is undergoing a major reordering. Future big players will likely be in software or cutting-edge manufacturing (or both, like Apple). Remind me where Tim Cook went? Or where Jonathan Ivee went? Or Steve Jobs went?</p>
<p>But again, if you want to work a hedge fund and skim fees off desperate pension funds, then yes, a Harvard degree will open doors.</p>