I managed to get real lucky getting my cloud architect job without a bachelors.

The trade off was loads of work experience in the exact field a job needed and a recommendation from someone on the project.

I still broke six figures before that job offer without the job recommendation. That was from job hopping for 3 years.

Gotta keep your resume up to date and literally keep applying. Got a new job? Update resume with new gig and keep applying.

Now I’m happy where I’m at. Fantastic work culture and comfortable salary. Can I make more? Maybe but my work life balance is good and I can pay my bills/save money.

That must be hard. Bigger companies have an HR dept, or recruiters they use will require a degree before a real engineer even sees your resume. Small companies can’t afford to take a chance on an unknown.