Hello, I have to ask something about my abilities as a developer in a professional capacity. But I also have to rant. I feel very inadequate. And I don't really think it's just impostor syndrome anymore.

Reason 1 for feeling inadequate: I do not have a proper CS degree. Although this seems like the least problematic thing for many people.

Reason 2: I lack a good network for my years of experience. I rarely follow up with co-workers because I'm asocial. My closer friends also can't tell apart a programmer from an IT employee. So they're not good for leads.

Reason 3: I am probably an Expert Beginner. A chronic problem if you're 10 years experienced like me.

Reason 4: I'm grossly underpaid for my local area, living in a big city.

My objective and description: Web developer of ~10 years experience with Arts degree seeking low level embedded work, and gradually working into a semiconductor company to do work that's more interesting to me. I'm super burned out on web development and want to get away from it.

With my experience, several people have told me that going back to college is a waste of time. But I don't know about that. My applications get ignored in certain roles and departments I'm targeting. These companies go ahead and hire entry level CS graduates for these departments. People with little real world corporate experience get picked over me. I feel like a washed up NBA pro that loses 1-on-1 to many college rookies.

But I see "Experience trumps college!" being parroted around a whole lot, as if your length of job experience is the only relevant variable. People should really stop saying that. They place zero recognition of other variables that affect the individual's chances to land their target job, or even to get the first interview.

So is my inadequacy grounded in reality? Is it really true that I am as bad as I think? I can't tell what is dominating me more, impostor syndrome or real lack in ability.