I work as a software engineer for a child company of a big company (not FAANG). I don't have a college degree and it makes me self concious around my peers who have their bachelors and masters degree. Today, two of my colleagues just had a small celebration, celebrating completing their masters program in computer science (they were already employed in the company while working towards their masters) and I felt sick inside. I'm the only software engineer in a team of 25 engineers who doesn't have any college degree. I always avoid degree topic when talking with my peers because in a previous job when I disclosed I didn't have a degree to a coworker and I felt that he started judging me and my code much more harshly afterwards. Only a select few team members (my boss, and supervisor) are aware (hired me anyway) that I don't have it. But at work, things like Cool, where'd you go to school?come up and that my most feared question from my coworkers.

I don't know. I guess I'm just venting because the colleagues getting masters degree is a big shot at my ego. Probably because I tried for 10 years to get my bachelors in computer science but it was too difficult for me. Just various life events just made hard for me to put my attention to school fully like multiple jobs to support myself to go to school really made me deprioritize my attention in school and eventually after years and years of trying I couldn't go on. Also, I lacked the discipline I needed to do well in most of my classes. I found them extremely boring and lectures always felt too slow and irrelevant other than regurgitating it on the tests. I often had to repeat classes cause I couldn't pass them which buried me in student loans which made me even more depressed.

It's also a big shot at my ego because they were working full time while pursuing their masters degree and completed it, while I can't even finish a bachelors degree after 10 years. Makes me feel like a fluke. Like somehow I wiggled my way into a job that I'm not suppose to somehow because I passed a few coding questions.