I invented my first algorithm in 3rd grade. I taught myself to program at 12. I coded my first neural network at age 16. I was a National Merit Scholar. I have a patent for an application of machine learning to natural language processing. ML has been my special interest for 30 years, and my career for 10. I've been programming for even longer, 33 years on my own time and and 20 in the workplace.
But I don't have a degree, due to mental health and an undiagnosed invisible disability. So I'm not good enough to hire.
It's an enormous slap in the face. These people, haughty, looking down their noses at me because I don't have my papers like the purebreds do. If I wasn't struggling to put food on the table for my kids, I'd say screw it, they don't deserve my talents if they're going to be like that. But now their snobbery is threatening my children's well-being, and I am LIVID.
