When Interpretations of Merit Thresholds Vary and Reproduce Inequality: Entering the Tech Industry Without Computer Science Credentials.

This article examines how aspiring software developers without computer science (CS) degrees respond to the ostensibly meritocratic opportunity of entering the tech industry through open-access coding skills, such as MOOCs and bootcamps. It identifies three distinct entry strategies—Early/Broad, Standard, and Late/Narrow—differing in timing and scope of job applications, which correspond to varying interpretations of the merit threshold (the coding competency believed necessary to secure a first tech job). Follow-up data show that the Early/Broad strategy, involving earlier market entry and broader job targeting, is associated with higher employment rates across all sociodemographic groups, particularly benefiting those historically underrepresented in tech; however, most aspirants from these groups did not adopt this strategy. The study attributes these variations to aspirants’ prior labor market experiences, specifically whether they perceived employers as having previously given or denied them chances, highlighting a supply-side mechanism that interacts with demand-side biases to reproduce labor market inequalities.