I finally registered an account so I comment on your post. I think you have it spot on. I never attended any university and in my 13 year career it's only ever been an issue three times (Incidentally all 3 here in the US, I've only been here for 5 years).
Once was Google when they noticed the lack of an education section on my resume. The second was a startup in NY that was run by a couple of recent phd grads who had an issue with whether or not I would have fit into the culture (I passed several technical interviews). The third is my current employer AT&T Labs, but my manager pushed hard to get me in.
I've also been employed at Time Warner, Conde Nast & Viacom/MTV Networks (at a Director Level), so the bigger companies (Except for Google) will look past your qualifications if you can show you have the skillset required and the experience in using it.
As an employer when given the choice between a recent graduate with zero experience and someone who spent the past 4 years gaining experience in the industry I've usually gone with the non-graduate. (I always think what I was like at day zero of my first dev job verses the senior dev I was 4 years later).
Once was Google when they noticed the lack of an education section on my resume. The second was a startup in NY that was run by a couple of recent phd grads who had an issue with whether or not I would have fit into the culture (I passed several technical interviews). The third is my current employer AT&T Labs, but my manager pushed hard to get me in.
I've also been employed at Time Warner, Conde Nast & Viacom/MTV Networks (at a Director Level), so the bigger companies (Except for Google) will look past your qualifications if you can show you have the skillset required and the experience in using it.
As an employer when given the choice between a recent graduate with zero experience and someone who spent the past 4 years gaining experience in the industry I've usually gone with the non-graduate. (I always think what I was like at day zero of my first dev job verses the senior dev I was 4 years later).