I'm probably going to delete this as it's probably a bit identifying but I didn't get any computing related qualifications (well I got one which was quite bad) and after a string of random jobs found myself interviewing for a small consutlancy company.

Although I thought the interview went terribly, they thought the opposite and gave me a shot (bear in mind my experience up until that point was stopping people from DDOSing my game servers/hosting), overtime I learnt a few languages on the job/spare time and then someone else in a much bigger company noticed and got me into my current dev role although they'd typically hirer uni grads with experience.

Now that my foot is firmly in the door, I don't really get asked the qualifications question anymore - it's more about what I know and how good I am. The few times it does get asked it gets quickly waived due to prior experience.

I don't know why I'm mentioning all of this, maybe because I'm partly drunk but it's an odd one. I'm of the opinion that a degree is definitely not needed and I'm noticing a trend of degree's no longer being a requirement and just relevant experience is sort after but how do you get that relevant experience? I was in the right place and in the right time and delivered which opened the door for me but how about others who aren't so lucky? Feels like a bit of a catch 22. Even smaller places can be really tough on the degree requirement.

I'm looking at doing a computer science degree over the next few years just as a side acomplishment and I know I'll eventually come up against a HR rep who will throw my CV in the bin because it doesn't have a degree on it.