This only matters for one's first job, if that. Afterwards it's irrelevant. Regardless of what the job description says, it's never mattered in my experience working at well over a dozen companies in the last twelve years or so.
I live nearby Netflix, Space X, Hulu, JPL, etc with twenty years experience in what they do and have never even spoken to a single person at any of them despite applying for years. I'm good at what I do, now I ignore their job postings.
The alternative could be that they're discriminating you because of your age. Just for the sake of argument, you noted "twenty years experience"...if i assume that you started working on your 20th birthday, that means you are theoretically 40 years old...ripe for being the victim of age discrimination (or at least the beginning of it). And, if true then this sucks royally!
I've recently been looking to jump to another gig. I have a degree and almost 20 years of experience. (I'm 45 years old this year, by the way.) In my summary I would always begin with something along the lines of "Technical professional with over 18 years of diversified experience...etc." And, while that has worked ok in the last several years, lately, I get barely any replies. Jobs that in the past i would have easily gotten, are no longer even replying to me. Then, a friend noticed my opening line, and suggested i drop the number of years, and remove 1 or 2 of my early jobs...In essence make it seem like I'm younger...Wow, what a difference. While i still have not gotten any bites (my job search is still early), i now have many more replies...Which confirms that employers don't want to hire "older people".
I feel for you. My suggestion: make yourself appear a bit younger on paper, to at least get your foot in the door and interview. Best of luck with your job search!!!!!
There's not a lot of dates on it though, and only go into detail over the last ten years. So while ageism is a thing I've encountered when people see me, this happens long before that moment.
Not surprising at any place that receives a hundred resumes a day. You need a leg up advantage just to get noticed. JPL was the worst, my application was rejected within 15 minutes of submitting.
If I had known it was possible to work at such a place as a kid, or that Netflix would even exist, I'd have gotten a degree.
The trick is to get in contact with that company's recruiters using a site like LinkedIn. Establish a bit of rapport, send your resume and portfolio, and let them handle setting up your phone screening and technical on-site.
Recruiters are an amazing resource in our industry and are great for getting your foot in the door... Especially when you're being blocked by those automated HR filters.
I think the degree requirement is often interchangeable with professional experience.
I have worked at both startups and FAANGs.
There are developers with CS degrees who are clearly worse than those without. But I could always tell who did not have a CS degree, based on poor understanding of things like running time analysis, good systems design, more complex algorithms etc.
The best developers always had at least a CS undergrad. Though there are clearly diminishing returns with going above that, unless you are a researcher.
Still, the goal of this site is commendable. There are tons of folks who don't have degrees because they could not afford it.
But non CS folk never did understand, in my > 10 year experience.
Of course there will always be exceptions. John Carmack is one of the greatest programmers of all time, and he never went to college. To be fair, he did excel a lot further under the mentorship of Michael Abrash, who was a researcher in 3d graphics.
But for your average Joe schmoe, this is likely not to be the case.
Would I not hire someone on the basis of no CS degree? No.
Would I be more skeptical? Absolutely.
Would I consider them for a senior advisor role? Probably not.
Unless it's from another technical field (math, physics). Even then, I don't know, it depends on the role. I've seen a lot of shit code from people who were mathematically brilliant.
That is the one legit reason I've ever heard for a degree -- To know that people are able and willing to stick with a multi-year effort. Moving every year or two when getting rolling with your career is one thing. More than one job per year for over a decade is something else entirely. It doesn't mean I would throw out your resume, but it does mean I would only consider you as a contractor, not a perm employee.