I'm not dealing with the software piracy, but to some extents the problems we face here are similar. The point is, that even tough it's unethical and illegal, the company execs/owners may decide to proceed anyway, because as stated before, the risk of being caught is far lower that the profit gained. In this case, passing the buck is very much okay with me, especially in environment, where you have to become a pirate if you'd like to be competitive... The extra benefit in the business I work, is that the head office managers gets and extra argument, when they need to squeeze something out of the branch offices.

First of all, the company I work for (global corp with 500k+ employees) doesn't give a damm if you have a degree or not (at least here in Europe). However, if you have no experience, they allow you to work your way up the ladder, which is in my opinion best way of making a career despite the degree. Throughout my 9 years career I've seen bunch of college graduates making a fast track management careers in IT, but they have never been as good leaders as the people who just work their way up old fashion way. So yes, you can have the job no problem, just expect it's going to take the time to get better money, respect and responsibility.