and that is pretty much true for any other professional job. You don’t “need” a degree to be an investment banker or code at Google or to be the CEO at United. But nobody will hire you without one.

how about Richard Branson. High school dropout

or Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg - college drop outs. Both Harvard.

I guess you shouldn’t attend Harvard?

I like my odds with a degree form Harvard - any college for that matter.

Your statement about no one hiring you without one is not correct

What odds do you prefer?

It’s not about that. I’m not disagreeing with you on the odds. But you can’t say that no one gets hired without one. Simply not true

Right,

Just look at Bill Gates!

Trying to remember what employer hired Bill Gates. 🤣

I guess the real question is, how many software engineers does Microsoft hire who don’t have a minimum of a four year degree?

It’s not your rules. It’s not your game. It’s United’s rules and United’s game. If you have a degree you’ll be considered for a pilot position at United, if you don’t have a degree you won’t.

No amount of whining (and there is considerable whining on this thread) will change that simple fact.