Exactly. After I left government and was trying to get into finance, the first words out of everyone’s mouth were “do you have a degree?” and my perception was that if I had answered “no” the interview would’ve been over before it ever even started.
From experience I can say that not having a degree does make it much harder to get interviews. Earlier in my career it probably cost me quite a bit in starting salaries. However now that I have a couple of decades of experience, I actually make more than most of the degreed people I work with, even the ones with as much experience as me. Getting past the screeners in most major HR departments is still an issue.