I don't have a C.S. degree. I had an Electrical Engineering degree which meant that I knew how to think logically and construct scripts of things. This means that I knew fuck all about data structures or modularization of code. However, I really really learnt how to build complex systems by studying more mathematics. Specifically pure math. It trains your mind to think in terms of raw abstractions in a way that hardens you and makes programming easy. It also helped that I took real analysis the same semester as I took Operating Systems. The brain has a small working memory set. The only way to deal with complicated systems is to learn to recognize the forest and not get lost amidst the trees. Even now, when I interview people or get interviewed, Ultimately I don't really care what tools you know, what languages you use. Sure, it is great that you know the stack that this company, this team uses. But ultimately, what matters to me and the work I do is how fast you can break down a problem and see the underlying simple backbone. These are the kind of people I like working with.