Hypothetical speaking.
I noticed there are a ton of dev jobs in the USA compared to the EU. Although I don’t have any intention to relocate to the US, I was just curious what people here have to say about what your chances are when you migrate to the US to find a dev job without a bachelor degree? Is it even possible visa wise?
Just trying to have a discussion going.
You can’t just get work visas, you need to already have a job, it has to be sponsored. And the logistical hoops needed to jump through to employ someone from the EU mean that the company doing it needs to know that it’s worth employing that person; it’ll take months to prepare (for both employer and employee), so it’s not really worth it unless that person has specialist skills. I’ve know a few people who’ve gone to work in the US; always for big companies who can afford errors (P&G, Pixar, Google), and because they have specialised, useful skills that outweighed the logistical issues.
And regarding degrees: a graduate with a good degree is probably relatively smart, it’s very easy to get references, they’re likely to be malleable and unlikely to have much baggage. Say the student is expected to get a first in CS (and the final year work is something interesting) from somewhere that signals well, like Oxford or Cambridge, companies will fall over themselves to offer jobs, regardless of the hoops needed to jump through to hire them, because it’s as close to a sure bet as you are going to get as an employer.
This vs. the EU, where if you have the language skills to work somewhere and are free to relocate, you can do that with no penalty; no visa needed, no nothing.
Expanding on what @DanCouper said, one of the requirements for sponsoring a worker for a visa is that you demonstrate that they have a skill/background/etc that you cannot get in-country. This doesn’t have to mean a degree, specifically, but without that degree there would need to be some level of experience that puts you in the skill gap.