I was, a few years ago, involved in a hiring.
the company advertised for a M (cs, ee, sc, ...) and we interviewed, if I recall, 7 candidates, none of which were qualified. One Mcs claiming to be fluent in the '51 told me that 'db' ment "double byte". They then replaced the M in the ad with a B and we found a qualified candidate.

The morale is that working in places that look at your paper rather than your expertise (I've been there) everything is discussed but nothing is done.

working for a company that look for experience you can get a trip to an oil rig, get to fix something mounted outdoors in a wind chill of -22F, be loaned out to a company in Farawayistan for a while, ....

So what do you want to do?

Erik

PS the above has nothing to with having 'paper' or not, but a lot to do with the companies that look for 'paper' as opposed to those that primarily look for experience.