My personal experience -- I did this 1.5 years ago. First of all, you'll have a harder time getting a visa should you ever wish to relocate to a different coun

My personal experience -- I did this 1.5 years ago. First of all, you'll have a harder time getting a visa should you ever wish to relocate to a different country. That aside, it depends on the type of person you are. If you're the kind of person that has no problem learning stuff on your own then it could work. This really includes some of the core CS stuff such as having a good grasp of algorithms, math, etc. Depending on the area you want to move in you'll have to learn some more specific stuff as well. Consumer web .. learn how to deal with scaling; Game development .. learn 3D oriented math. I'd say having a solid grasp of the execution speed of algorithms is something important regardless of the domain you're in. It will serve you a long way. It is not so much what you know as what you can do. Can you read a paper on some technical subject and then implement it? That sounds like something an employer is interested in. You should probably be more interested in working in smaller companies, since they're more likely to hire talented individuals. Most big corporations are built so that they can easily replace people should it be needed, smaller companies not so much. A tip for the job hunt: Get a programming portfolio. Since you don't have a degree you'll have to show your skills, but that's no problem! Put your best work on it. :) Good luck with whatever you decide to do.