I think it's doable if you're at the right place and have enough opportunities around you, and something to show for. I feel that companies and startups around tech hubs are more willing to give someone a chance, and look through the formality, if you manage to convince / impress them.<p>Where I live, far away from tech, it's almost impossible to land a job in ML / AI / DS unless you have a (minimum) Masters degree in something relevant. Preferably a Ph.D and solid experience to show for - I know because I work in the field, and lots of F500 dinosaurs are just now waking up. But are also unfortunately clinging to their old ways of hiring people.<p>Schools all over are also picking up slack, starting to offer specialized graduate degrees in those domains. When I got my degree in ML, it was a sub-field at my schools engineering department, mixed up with signal processing and control theory groups.<p>When first trying to get a job, the main problem was to explain what I actually could bring and do, and a lot of the recruiters or managers had no idea what Machine Learning was. Then you said "It's basically Artificial Intelligence" and, and they were instantly wooed.