Do developers without a degree have a ceiling in terms of career advancement? Does a degree matter more in some industries than others? Does the size of a company correlate with how much importance is placed on a degree? Also, have developers without a degree been able to transition into technical, product, or business leadership roles?<p>A lot of questions, I know :). There is a good deal of talk in tech about how to break into a dev position with either no education or from a different background - my question is about how life looks 10,20,30 years from that point. I'm hopeful the HN community can provide valuable insight!
Having a degree is only really relevant to a subset of the industry that revolves around things that are really difficult to learn outside of a university. There are some companies that wont hire you without a degree, but I find they are the minority.
<i>Do developers without a degree have a ceiling in terms of career advancement?</i><p>No, since you can always start your own company and make yourself CEO.<p>Assuming you legitimately do have the skills, temperament, patience, $WHATEVER, you can literally go as high as you want. That is not, of course, to suggest that it is easy. I know, I went this route myself, and I can definitely attest that it isn't easy.<p><i>Also, have developers without a degree been able to transition into technical, product, or business leadership roles?</i><p>I think some guy named Bill Gates did OK for himself. And some dude named Zuckerberg...