But why jump through hoops? You can be a programmer at Exxon (or another big company outside Google or Fogcreek :) and get in sleeping. If you are a so-so coder that sounds more interesting?

There's value in working at a company whose primary business is what you do. I expect that programmers are treated better at $AVERAGE_SOFTWARE_COMPANY than at $AVERAGE_NOT_SOFTWARE_COMPANY.

It depends. Some big but untechnical companies will think you're magic and pay you big bucks for very easy work. If you just want to collect a paycheck and go home you could do worse.

Prestige.