How would a noob w a generic college degree get started in your line of work?

[dranudin]

I currently work as a software engineer for a megacorp (in Germany). I have a phd degree in mechanical engineering, so even though this is a degree, it is not really relevant to the work I do. But also real world software engineering looks a lot different than what computer science people learn at university. The situation is pretty similar to what Sclass describes above.
At my first jobs, when I would encounter things or concepts that I hadn't heard of before I would look it up in the internet or get a book about it (you can lend the books for free at university libraries in my country). I commuted by train to work and would read books about topics where I lacked knowledge (each commute was about 20mins). After some time you know pretty much everything that the standard worker needs to know and even more.

I got into software engineering by applying at a smaller company and doing work there. I realized that after some time (maybe 1-2years) I was pretty much as good as the other guys, even those with more experience. Also people coming straight out of university are very inexperienced about the reality at the job, even if they studied computer science. Because of all the technical churn there is always a lot of new tech to learn and tech getting obsolete etc. So even if you had learned marketeable skills at university, they would turn irrevelant in a short time.
So most of what I do at work I learned myself, either at work or at home after hours.
If you do not have any degree at all, it is probably a little harder to get the first job, but it is doable (see delay's post above). You would have to write a lot of applications but probably you could find something. After you have real work experience it gets a lot easier.
The hard part about software is not hating your job. For some reason it is not really satisfying work for most people and thus the supply of people willing to do it kind of low, at the moment

[zbigi]

Mech Eng is not really a "generic college degree" in the context of software eng. For software positions, a non-CS STEM degree is still a leg up over a non-STEM degree.

[conwy]

Yet another software developer here.

In a way, every job is like starting a career all over again, because the technology and requirements keep changing.

What I usually do is:

1. Search far and wide for job posting - Google, Seek, Indeed, LinkedIn, etc.
2. Keep editing my CV until it has enough of the right keywords and experience to match a few jobs then send in applications
3. Prepare for interviews any way I can - courses on interview techniques (on Udemy, Coursera or even YouTube), reading books on interviews, searching mock interviews online and practicing them
4. Go for as many interviews as possible, just keep trying again and again
5. Take the first offer I can get and be flexible about practically anything. Even moved city a few times for work.
6. Work hard, save and invest according to ERE principles, so that in a few years time, I won't need to work.

Now I achieved FIRE two or three times over, I still work now and then because I enjoy the challenge.

Work is much, much nicer when you know you're rich enough to quit anytime!