I got two years of college under mt belt and had to leave school for many reasons. Went to another university a year later to try and finish and got caught up in the building Internet boom/bust. The experience I gained was VERY valuable and it was definitely the right decision to leave school to pursue my career, but I had the nagging sense that I was missing out on some jobs because I didn't have that degree.
So I found a company that would help me pay for part of my education via tuition assistance and had relatively regular hours and went to it. When I finished the degree, I changed jobs and got a 60% pay raise.
Mind you, I already had a six-figure income BEFORE the degree.
Since then, I've changed jobs twice and each job has been more rewarding and better paying that the last. I definitely feel like my program (which was from a well-known school) helps to open doors. I feel like the degree added a multiplier to my efforts that helps me to earn credibility and break through barriers.
Like it or not, the lack of that degree will subject you to prejudice you wont be fully aware of until you're freed from it. You can certainly be successful without the degree, but having it makes enough of a difference that I'd be hard pressed to recommend someone go without it unless they were clearly an exceptional individual with a clear goal for what they wanted to do in their lives.
I got two years of college under mt belt and had to leave school for many reasons. Went to another university a year later to try and finish and got caught up in the building Internet boom/bust. The experience I gained was VERY valuable and it was definitely the right decision to leave school to pursue my career, but I had the nagging sense that I was missing out on some jobs because I didn't have that degree.
So I found a company that would help me pay for part of my education via tuition assistance and had relatively regular hours and went to it. When I finished the degree, I changed jobs and got a 60% pay raise.
Mind you, I already had a six-figure income BEFORE the degree.
Since then, I've changed jobs twice and each job has been more rewarding and better paying that the last. I definitely feel like my program (which was from a well-known school) helps to open doors. I feel like the degree added a multiplier to my efforts that helps me to earn credibility and break through barriers.
Like it or not, the lack of that degree will subject you to prejudice you wont be fully aware of until you're freed from it. You can certainly be successful without the degree, but having it makes enough of a difference that I'd be hard pressed to recommend someone go without it unless they were clearly an exceptional individual with a clear goal for what they wanted to do in their lives.