I've started typing a reply to your other post but phone rang and got sidetracked. I was going to say that you're an exception. For your success without a degree, there's a 100 other guys that didn't 'make' it.
I know you guys want to argue this point, but a degree differentiate you from the guy that don't have one when your CVs get to the hiring manager. There are industries more forgiving with lack of formal education, IT and Construction immediately comes to mind, but once you get to management level, it's going to start hurting you.
I disagree but mostly because we have different ideas on how to find employment. Many people have only one approach & that's sending a resume to a hiring manager and getting an interview.
I last got a job that way 24 years ago. Since then I spent a lot of time as a freelance consultant. I eventually decided to settle and by word of mouth and networking, I landed a regional directors job in Asia. That went tits up because I didn't want to join a management buy out and then I found a firm and sold them on the merits of setting up out here. I was still an employee but running a company I recommended they create.
It's all been about networking/word of mouth since I did the consulting.
What I would never do is pick up a trade journal/newspaper and start sending a resume in. That relies so much on timing and chance that it seems the worst approach. Think about it - a company might be planning to hire a bunch of people in 3-6 months time, they might be talking about it, budgeting, making plans but only at a certain time will they advertise. So you need to make people aware of who you are (well, who you say you are) and what you can do. You end up on their horizon as they are making plans.
I'm not saying this would work for every job at every level but when it comes to management roles, this approach makes a lot more sense to me than waiting for firms to advertise.
I landed a graduate job at 18 by looking for companies advertising, then researching for the appropriate directors name. I sent them personal letters telling them who I was and what I had to offer, asking innocently if they had anything. Some thought I had initiative (when really I just knew I couldn't apply the normal way) and I got roped into aptitude tests. The first interview I had, I got my first job. Of course, I'm no fool and I do realize they could pay me less.
I know graduates that wouldn't have the sense take that sort of initiative at 35 years old. That's the sort of thing they don't teach in school.