It depends on how competitive your local market is. If there is a huge demand for people in your area and you have the skills, you can get away with not having

It depends on how competitive your local market is. If there is a huge demand for people in your area and you have the skills, you can get away with not having a degree. If demand for your skill is soft and there are a bunch of other people with degrees competing with you for a job, it's extremely common that companies will use degrees as an initial triage criterion. In this case, you can be very hurt by not having a degree. I'm usually involved in hiring decisions for my company, a major player in the software industry, and I don't think lack of degree is a deal breaker - but it's a red flag for sure.