>I taught myself programming and got a job after a few years of study and practice (mostly while I was in high school and college). I got a job and never finish

>I taught myself programming and got a job after a few years of study and practice (mostly while I was in high school and college). I got a job and never finished my degree. That was a long time ago (more than 40 years ago), and back then employers would more frequently hire people they expected to train and mentor. That doesn't seem to happen much these days, everyone has to prove they can fit in and produce right away. 40 years ago, very likely, your salary would have been a "normal" one, and your employer would have had less hurry in having you productive, letting you some more time to learn/adapt/etc. and - as well very likely - your attitude towards the employer would have been different from the one I see common today (let's work here for max 2 years then find another job) and - viceversa - you were likely seen as a resource on which it was worth to invest some time and money in the long run (as opposed to an expendable -and possibly micro-managed - employee that can be repolaced any time). The market has simply changed, not only in computer tech/programming, firms expect that the candidate is "ready" and use (as you say accepted as proxy) degrees and quick technical interviews to justify the choice (of hiring or not hiring you).