I have several friends, peers and colleagues that work in the sysadmin/networking field that do not have degrees (a couple do not even have high school diplomas), and they all do quite well for themselves as far as salaries go.
Like many other people, I view IT as more of a trade. I would much rather hire the person who started working right out of high school with 4 years of experience under his belt than the newly minted BSc with none. Of course, it would all come down to the technical interview, but the trend that I have noticed is that those without the degrees tend to be more "self starters" and capable of learning and researching on their own.
Now don't get me wrong, a degree doesn't hurt. It will definitely open up many doors for you, but if you are seriously looking to get into IT, experience trumps all. Hard work, determination, initiative... these are all the keys to a successful career in IT, imo.
As for myself, I've never had any formal CS or IT training, nor do I have a college degree. Everything I knew, I learned from a book that I bought so I could build a computer to play Doom with on a LAN. After getting out of the Marines in 2001, I took my meager Doom knowledge and landed myself an entry level help desk position making $12/hour. Now, I'm a Network Architect making over 6 figures a year and I work from home 95% of the time. I still don't have a degree, but now I'm back in school, and I have the time and money to get a degree in a subject that I'm actually interested in and not having to worry about making money with it to put food on the table.
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I have several friends, peers and colleagues that work in the sysadmin/networking field that do not have degrees (a couple do not even have high school diplomas), and they all do quite well for themselves as far as salaries go.
Like many other people, I view IT as more of a trade. I would much rather hire the person who started working right out of high school with 4 years of experience under his belt than the newly minted BSc with none. Of course, it would all come down to the technical interview, but the trend that I have noticed is that those without the degrees tend to be more "self starters" and capable of learning and researching on their own.
Now don't get me wrong, a degree doesn't hurt. It will definitely open up many doors for you, but if you are seriously looking to get into IT, experience trumps all. Hard work, determination, initiative... these are all the keys to a successful career in IT, imo.
As for myself, I've never had any formal CS or IT training, nor do I have a college degree. Everything I knew, I learned from a book that I bought so I could build a computer to play Doom with on a LAN. After getting out of the Marines in 2001, I took my meager Doom knowledge and landed myself an entry level help desk position making $12/hour. Now, I'm a Network Architect making over 6 figures a year and I work from home 95% of the time. I still don't have a degree, but now I'm back in school, and I have the time and money to get a degree in a subject that I'm actually interested in and not having to worry about making money with it to put food on the table.