[newbear]

Any advice you can give me on how to find these companies?

[turc1656]

If you don't already know anyone who works in Dev/IT at any finance-related company in NYC, I would say your best bet is to go to networking events. There are always events all over the city every week. I get emails every week about them. You can also sign up to specific groups at sites like meetup.com and go to the events when they schedule to meet up in person. A quick search on that site yielded a bunch of relevant groups in NYC: https://www.meetup.com/mysqlnyc/ https://www.meetup.com/NY-FinTech/ https://www.meetup.com/ny-tech/ https://www.meetup.com/nyandroiddevelopers/ https://www.meetup.com/UX-Data/ https://www.meetup.com/NYC-Data-Engineering/ and for the ladies: https://www.meetup.com/WomenWhoCodeNYC/

Granted, these are learning-oriented rather than strictly networking, so the topics of conversation aren't going to be focused on job openings. But networking is obviously a part of it and you can reach out to the contacts you make at these events.

Basically, anything where you can talk to someone face to face so they can get a feel for you and you can make an impression on them. That's the goal. If they like your personality and they think you are competent, they are far more willing to open the door for you and overlook the degree requirement. But you definitely must be very, very competent if you don't have the degree.

Best of luck.