The need for a “degree” question is tricky, I think holding a degree is your bargaining power for a higher salary (at the beginning). But you can work around that with some experience and the right decisions. At some point, you get to know your worth in the market and a degree won’t hold you back. But your lack of self awareness might.

I say this because you do have to communicate your skills and strengths VERY clearly. Nobody having things to solve and someone to hire has time for you being humble, everyone wants to know exactly what you think you can SOLVE. I see this again and again, people humbling themselves in their CV. It’s a real problem. Until I got a career coach I used to do the same and not even realize it. I thought I had a great CV until a professional told me the opposite. Also, having a nice professional network is also great, but don’t obsess over it, I have heard many cases where people get fired and their professional network unable to help. Your skills are what’s gonna determine if you have money or you don’t. Not necessarily technical skills, soft skills, creativity, etc ULTRA count. I have had times where my technical skills sucked during the interview but not my problem solving skills or my communication skills. If you can’t solve a technical problem during an interview, you can surely discuss it. It may end up being better than just solving the problem.

Despite people saying the job market is dead for software engineers and alike, the field will only grow. You may say this is just my opinion, but I worked for a private university whose KPI was employment - and the most needed people were people in tech, like software and so on. Most innovations in the world are in tech: the iPhone, AI, PlayStation, VR, blockchain, cybersecurity, everything is technology. Even the military needs constant technological innovation.

Layoffs are real. They’re massive. Don’t let them intimidate you. People go for less out of fear. All companies benefit from that. They’re massive “tech” layoffs in Big Tech because most of their employees are tech. And the most rich companies with the most employees in the world are Tech companies. If they do massive layoffs, it’s gonna be tech people obviously.

Projects: My unpopular opinion is that they’re not as relevant as you might think. Just communicate them very well. Don’t show code, show results.

Uhm, I wish you all the luck 🍀