Cut the BS please. Safety critical software gets audited and other measures are taken to insure it stays safe to a degree. However if one wants to write software for let's say music synthesizer the only thing that matter is the person ability. In this case I would look for experience, list of completed projects and other relevant info. I would not give a rat's ass about their diploma. Some of the best / successful software was often created by domain experts who learned how to program.