I don't have a degree, and I've working as a web developer for 12 years, with a steady improvement in wages and benefits from year to year. Worked first in star

I don't have a degree, and I've working as a web developer for 12 years, with a steady improvement in wages and benefits from year to year. Worked first in start-ups, then in SMEs, and then in IT consultancy, now a freelancer. Absolutely no lack of work, no wage discrimination from employers either - just a few large institutions that I can't apply for because they filter candidates on the basis of a degree. I get a fair number of spontaneous offers on the strength of my LinkedIn profile, even though I'm living in a backwater. As others mentioned on this thread, the first 2-3 years are the hardest, as you struggle to view yourself as a developer, and to make others see you as such. At that point it is quite important to have a clear vision of where you want to go, otherwise you will easily get sidetracked into alternative career paths with some CS content (helpdesk, networks, analyst,...). Lately I've begun to feel some disadvantages from not having a degree. My theoretical foundation is patchy, and the mathematics are lacking for certain areas. I don't have a clear overall vision of CS which a degree would have given me. I do spend time studying, almost every day in fact, but it's given over to new technologies which I need on the job, not to more theoretical topics, so I'm not making much progress on the CS front. To find a job, your best bet is to start participating now in open-source projects, and later try to get an internship somewhere for a few months (maybe even just helping out at a friend's shop or company), in order to bolster your CV. Unfortunately IT jobs are very much a catch-22 thing: you need experience in order to obtain experience. So getting the first couple of professional experiences in there is crucial to landing your first proper job.