Sr. Server Engineer (Vintage Systems) at Living Computer, Museum,

I know I will regret dipping my toe in this argument, because I'll dump some facts on very well established classiccmop groupthink, but hopeful it will help the few listmember who aren't yet reality-immune on this topic. I'm on my second decade as a hiring manager of one sort or another, from Fortune 10 companies to startups, and I'm a non-degreed candidate for these roles. And I was married to a IT recruiter for a decade. This is a US perspective, BTW...non US markets are more or less different. In particular, the UK isn't so different. It's the party line of course to blame HR in general and the recruiters in particular for being "gatekeepers" and not realizing how amazing the non-degreed candidate is. That's bullshit. The recruiters are *paid* to place people, and since much first tier recruiting has been outsourced, a placement is often the only source of compensation for these folks. Recruiters are continually looking for ways to fit a square peg in a round hole. The first thing a recruiter does when they get a requirement is to say "what of this are you flexible on?". You have no idea how far they will push this. "You want a programmer. My candidate has a computer", "You need a security expert? My candidate worked mall security for 5 years". "Project management? My candidate managed a Pizza Hut." These are not exaggerations, they are personal antidotes. Anyone who's ever signed up for a job search site knows how wide a net the recruiters cast. Recruiters are sales people, often not good ones, usually working on commission, trying to sell a hiring manager on whatever they have in the queue, no matter how bad a match. Period. Full stop. Conversely, it's very rare that a hiring manager says "I don't care how good a match the candidate is, if they don't have a degree, I don't want them". It happens, usually with a junior manager who hasn't been around the block a couple of times, but it's not the norm. Any of us who have been around for a bit all know that there are good candidates in any candidate pool. But there's a reason we all put "BS required" in those ads, and it is because it's a filter. It's not a have/not have filter. It's an asshole/not asshole filter. Hate to break it to folks, but getting through HR without a degree isn't that hard (been there, done that), but if your answer to "so you don't have a degree" is "let me read you the riot act about how stupid you are to require a degree", "degree requirements are bullshit and you should rely on the intangible things I think make me awesome" or "degrees are a waste of time, and the fact that most of your employees have one has no bearing on the fact that I'm in a special category", then don't be surprised if the HR drone says "I don't care how much I've got to make mortgage this month, I'm not going to try and sell this assclown to the hiring manager. There's a dozen other folks in the queue who can at least fake being a reasonable human being". So, bottom line, if you're "perfect" for the jobs, but you think you are continually getting turned down because you don't have a degree, you're wrong. You're either *really* not perfect, or you're toxic waste from a personality/attitude standpoint. Usually the later. Yes, I know...you're different/special/unique and none of this applies to you. SOP for this list. I'm just telling you what I've learned from dozens of HR orgs, a couple of hundred slots I've been responsible for filling and several thousand candidates I've had to weed through. Not that that matters.