[jamesmus]

How much experience do you have? I have always assumed that when a job ad lists a CS degree as a requirement that there's an implicit 'or equivalent experience' clause that applies. I don't have a degree of any kind and I don't think I have ever been asked. Maybe it's different over here (in the UK), though.

[666lumberjack]

~1 year of experience. I am also in the UK fwiw, probably should have put that in the OP.

[jamesmus]

I started out about 25 years ago and I suppose all I can do is to reiterate that nobody has ever asked if I have a degree. I don't really have a good handle on what the IT job market is like for people who are less experienced, TBH, so whether that information is actually useful or not I don't know. I still think it's worth applying anyway. I have worked in places where job ads have gone out for the same role I was already doing and after reading those ads I would have come to the conclusion that I was not qualified to apply. Basically my take is that people love to load those ads up so that they look impressive. When I interview what I want to know about a candidate is: are they smart and can they get stuff done? Anything else is secondary, really.

Location is probably a factor too. I am based near London and there are a lot of dev jobs around here. If you are regional then that may not be the case.

[gshdg]

Fwiw, degrees were rarer in the software candidate pool 25 years ago, and become increasingly irrelevant as your career progresses. Once you hit about 5 years of experience, the amount of attention anyone pays to it nosedives.

These days, getting those first five years is harder, though. Because of a combination of a glut of juniors on the market plus a culture where it’s increasingly common for employees to stay only a year or so, which makes it less worthwhile for a company to invest in training juniors.

[AnimalMuppet]

If you have ~1 year experience, and are currently working, I would recommend staying there another year, or even two. Hiring someone with no degree but 3 years of experience is a much less scary proposition for a company than hiring someone with no degree and 1 year. (Or so I think, but I am not a hiring manager.)

[gshdg]

I am a hiring manager and I agree wholeheartedly.

[onion2k]

If you're in the north east of the UK and you know PHP drop me an email (address in my profile). I know a company that's recruiting.

[666lumberjack]

Midlands looking to relocate to London, unfortunately, but I appreciate the offer.