[ChuckMcM]

Obviously I don't know anything about your specific situation so humor me if I'm being dense okay?

How exactly are the roles "reserved" ? Do you live somewhere that has more of a patronage mode of filling roles or one where it's more merit based?

For example, one of the engineers I knew at NetApp came to work in the US from Mumbai because they could not advance as a software engineer without a degree from one of the "ITS" schools (they went to a second tier school). In the US that wasn't a problem, in India it was. Their solution was to change countries (as hard as that is).

If that is not the case, are you constrained in some way from upgrading your credentials to the ones you need?

I have also observed that smaller companies are more focused on who can do the job rather than their credentials. Sometimes moving to a company that needs your skills more than they care to look good on paper might be worth looking into.

[non-entity]

Eh, part of it is just that "the things I love about writing software" just aren't very important or in demand in a business setting. There certainly are positions I think I would enjoy, but they are fewer in number most of the positions prefer people with graduate degrees (I know not to put too much trust in job listings, but some domains do tend to be more strict on that sort of requirements, whether it be a culture thing or otherwise) and I never went to school at all.

> If that is not the case, are you constrained in some way from upgrading your credentials to the ones you need?

Money, and to a lesser extent time. I can't be considered a resident of the state I reside in "for tuition purposes" at least for a couple years, so there's no in-state tuition for me. On top of that I make enough money not to qualify for any aid, but not enough to fork out nearly six figures in a reasonable time. I could maybe pull out private loans, but for just an undergrad degree, it honestly doesn't feel worth it.

> I have also observed that smaller companies are more focused on who can do the job rather than their credentials. Sometimes moving to a company that needs your skills more than they care to look good on paper might be worth looking into.

Yeah, I'm not fully given up quite yet, hell several years back, I didn't think I would ever get a software development positions period, but I managed to get in.