Continuing an IT Career Without a Degree?

skaffen42 asks: "Recently there have been a lot of employment related "ask slashdot" posts. There have been questions about hot technologies, the international job market, certification, college and even landing a regular job! I find myself in a situation that have not been covered these posts. I dropped out of college after a year and went to work as a programmer. Now, ten years later, I am a senior systems engineer at a medium sized software company. I have challenging work, a decent salary and good prospects for advancement. But we all know that in this economy even a good job like this can disappear without warning. Unfortunately I don't have a degree. Which brings me to my question: a couple of years ago anybody could get a job if they could spell "C" and someone like me with nearly a decade of experience could usually pick and choose between job opportunities. Those days are (unfortunately) long gone. What I want to know is how much my lack of a degree will count against me in the present job market? And what can I do to make my lack of a degree less of a liability? What can I do so that I can also have these kind of problems?"

Comments

This is going to sound harsh...

[Anonymous Coward]

...but I hope the lack of degree hurts your search. Alot. Why? Because at one point in your life you started one. Why did you stop? Either it was because you were greedy and wanted to get in on the money as quickly as you could (in which case, serves you right), or else you decided you didn't need one, in which case, surprise! You were wrong. Decisions have consequences. (Ok, sure, *maybe* you had some sort of funky life crisis that made you leave school against your will. I would have expected that you would go back as soon as you could in that case, which it sounds like you didn't do.)

Get a degree.

And do me a favor. When the young'uns come up to you and ask your opinion on whether they need to get a degree, SAY YES.