I have worked at a couple of the top engineering companies in the world and I have spent the last 5+ years being involved with recruitment in those companies.

I can tell you that there will be some people who will not hire you, there will be many that will throw your CV out for 100 different reasons, one of those reasons will be your criminal record. Equally, there will be many who can put that aside and do not care about your past so long as you can reassure them that it is your past.

I personally do have a bachelors, but some of my best engineers do not. I say this not to dissuade you from continuing, but to ensure you realise that getting a qualification is not the most important thing to break into this field. Show passion, get involved in open source projects, build things in your spare time (I have made >50 side projects, all of my best engineers have at least 1 new thing going on any given year). That’s not to say that you MUST do this, only that the more you practice, the better you will get!

Don’t be disheartened if some people reject you, I have a robust CV and my CV is thrown in the bin before I talk to anyone 95% of the time!

Lastly, you do not need an internship to complete a degree, the placement year is entirely optional. If you find that you struggle to find a position once you have completed your degree (10+ applications a day for 3/6 months is what I would expect), reach out to me. I’m happy to either hire you, or to utilise my network to try to find you a position if you have truly given your degree, additional learning, and job hunting your all.

Good luck with whatever path you choose, I truly hope that every single day continues to be better than the last for you.