"Or equivalent experience" are the magic words found on almost every job posting. Outside of a few corps like Google, the degree requirements are rarely a dealbreaker.
In fact, it may be the opposite - that huge tech companies are more likely to drop that requirement.
Building a network is absolutely key, people who enjoy working with you remember you and at some point you just become set
Which government? That is manifestly not the case at any of the national governments I've worked with. I know engineers that didn't even finish high school that have done business with the US government in almost every employment arrangement possible.
Yep, having a sibling working in healthcare who’s having to take classes now so they can keep doing what they’ve been doing. The classes of course have no direct relevance to the job being done.
If you're talking about the US government, this isn't true. It is true for certain specific types of contracts, but not most of them.