>> in the real world you won't be allowed anywhere near such a position without having a degree ... yes, most likely they won't hire you for a "Data Scientist

>> in the real world you won't be allowed anywhere near such a position without having a degree ... yes, most likely they won't hire you for a "Data Scientist" position, but there are related jobs out there you can be qualified for if you have programming skills and understand DS stuff to some degree. I've seen setups where a PhD with a "scientist" in his title would act as an architect/co-team lead with a senior engineer running a team of developers. Someone has to implement DS' ideas after all and unless we're talking a really small team (or a jack of all trades DS) where DS has to write all the code himself - there is a need for developers with "some DS background" in those situations.