I come from a family of engineers. My grandpa and father were both mechanical engineers. My grandpa got his job with only a high school degree at the age of 18 because he did well on his math classes. My dad got his college degree at a local university and had a gaggle of employers begging him to work for their company. I got my degree in electrical engineering and couldnt find an engineering job in 2 years. I had to work at a supermarket and a warehouse during that time. I then went back to school and got my masters and after a little over a year of applying to various places I got an entry level engineering job.

The only reason you need a degree now is due to the inflation of college degrees. You dont need to know much at all for an entry level position and even if you hardly know anything, you will learn ewhat you need to know really quick, way faster than you would from taking a college course. If my grandpa could get a job as an engineer without a degree, you should be able to do that now.