People hire based on familiarity. Young CS grads from Stanford think only young CS grads from top-flight universities know how to design software. Start-up jockeys who dropped out of college think only drop outs with start-up experience know how to design software. I'm also an old(er) auotdidact. I like older, experienced people who have demonstrated passion for their craft by teaching themselves.

This is one of the most ancient, classic mistakes in the practice of software engineering. http://sourcemaking.com/antipatterns/golden-hammer Please tell us which company this is so that we can all assiduously avoid ever working for it.