Being self-taught, I too have had to deal with the lower than everyone else wage. It's hard work on a daily basis when you spend a portion of your time helping

Being self-taught, I too have had to deal with the lower than everyone else wage. It's hard work on a daily basis when you spend a portion of your time helping out other "learned" members of the team by fixing mistakes that you /facepalm at. What is worse are the ones that use your lack of a degree as evidence that you don't know what you're talking about... it usually comes back to bite them in the ass when their systems collapse due to the issues raised months prior, you know the ones they never listened to you about. If and when I get around to hiring my own staff, I will be doing it based on what they have done, not what they can do (on paper).