[oppositelock]

If you have the means, get a computer science degree at a reasonable school, and don't listen to people telling it's too late, and that ML is your meal ticket. We have two kinds of jobs here in the valley, the glamorous and competitive, and the really challenging and necessary. The latter are more immune to hype cycles and economic downturns. If you do something along the lines of networking/security, cloud infrastructure, and learn something that confuses other people, say, how to use OAuth2 properly as an example, you will be able to work on the infra side in almost any company. Once you get your foot in the door, then you can learn the latest hottest fad wherever it is that you are, on the job. Infrastructure is the computer industry version of cleaning out the stables for the horses, but it's also necessary everywhere and once you prove yourself and show you are capable of learning on the job, you can work on other stuff. If you start to enjoy infra stuff, you can work anywhere. Don't get stuck doing any kind of process though, don't be the compliance guy, for example.

The biggest shortage in silicon valley is that of capable minds and hands. It's on you to make yourself marketable, but once that's done, there's tons of opportunity. I've been working here since 1996. I'm a grey haired old timer now, and I've seen this industry from big companies, startups, boring companies, and fad companies. Get your foot in the door, the first job won't be glorious, but as you demonstrate skill, pay and rank will follow. Don't go to any of the companies staffed by lots of startup bros, because a wrinkle or some greying hair is a disadvantage there, but there are plenty of other places to start.

[appplication]

This, but do your CS degree online and also do a MS rather than an undergrad. Despite what you might think you need essentially no prior coding experience to enroll and complete most MS programs (though you may be conditionally admitted and need remedials). And any school will do for MS, there is no such thing as a prestigious masters degree. Anyone hunting academic prestige beyond undergrad just gets a doctorate.

[thelastparadise]

Not sure what a CS degree is supposed to help with if this guy wants to pursue the "scrappy SV tech startup" world.

He shouldn't be wasting time learning from professors who have never done anything real and have lived in an academic insulated bubble for decades.

Instead he should be building and shipping product after product until something sticks. And spending just as much time on marketing as development, and putting a lot of time and energy into hiring out and training a team to scale up to the next stage.

[oppositelock]

The degree itself is unimportant, but there are important skills that a CS program teaches, which you can teach yourself, but that degree makes getting interviews a lot easier. Like I said, I've been doing this for a very long time, and worked with many hiring processes.A person without either experience or a recognized degree has a very difficult time getting their foot in the door. I may have misread and thought that the OP was interested in engineering.

For PM's, or management, the skill set and showing that you have it will be different.