Finishing a degree with majors in systems engineering and physics. I'm not a computer scientist, but I know math damn well and can program well enough that I can pick up any languages I need, so I feel competitive for CS jobs. Plus, through classes in OR, physics, etc. I have a background in applied programming. It's not the same as a computer science degree, but if you ask a CS major to reverse-engineer the Google Maps algorithm, there is a lot of nuanced mathematics, optimization, heuristics, etc. that exceed the core curriculum.