Developer jobs for people without computer science degree?

Hi

I am a self-taught developer with 6 years of working experience, including an international company. I hold no degree. I have a designer education but nothing related to IT. Nonetheless, I have been working as a developer my entire professional life.

Right now, I live in Switzerland with a temporary working permit which runs out in 2020. I am Italian, my wife is Taiwanese. We would like to move to Taiwan but we are not sure about my possibilities to continue working in software development in Taiwan.

How are the typical employer’s perspectives on people like me? Does anyone have experience? People here usually don’t care much about my missing degree because of my working experience and written recommendations of previous employers.

Best regards

Even if you had a CompSci degree I’d still probably recommend trying to find a remote job or freelance. The impression I get is that developers here are not paid well (think $40k-$50kNTD a month for 60hrs/week) and Software Dev is not considered a “good job” like it is in the west.

I’m currently working remotely for a US mobile game company (server code / devops / internal tooling and reports) and it seems to be working out well – I do have a very flexible boss, however, so looking might take some extra time. I don’t get paid nearly what I would for working in The States, but the flexibility and lower COL of Taiwan makes up for it.

Since it sounds like you still have a year before you move, I’d either start looking for a flexible remote job (they maybe hard to find but with 6 years experience you should have no trouble!) or start freelancing and building up a client base.

Good luck! I don’t think your degree will be whats holding you back at this point with 6 years of experience

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Thnk you for your answer. It’s very helpful. I was aware that I will most certainly have to decrease my income when moving from Switzerland to Taiwan, although I didn’t expect this kind of downgrade. To be fair, I know only one developer in Taiwan and he states to be earning 70k ntd / month on a 40 hour week. Maybe it’s an exception, maybe he’s exaggerating.

I will consider your suggestion and either try to find a company here in Switzerland that is willing to let me work remotely or freelance. Thank you!

The 40-50k is probably for the young graduates. Usually it’s around 60-80k *14 (or more) for those who’ve had experience, depending on the company/capability.

https://www.codementor.io/blog/best-cities-software-engineer-earnings-271vpf599k

That sounds pretty standard.

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Based on my interviewing experience,

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