I was actually consulting Merk on a massive project for over a year at a 3rd party agency. A year later they posted a job listing for more or less exactly what I was doing previously while consulting for them. I got a referral link from a few higher level people I worked with there but was automatically denied due to not having a college degree. The job I was applying for was not even a thing when I went to college. I have over a decade of experience in this field. I frequently speak at conferences and volunteer my time to open source projects related to this job. I have worked with several fortune 50 companies in this space. But ultimately all they care about is if you went to college out of high shool. I could have likely gotten further with if I had a degree in Art History or something completely unrelated to tech. I cant imagine the level of incompetence this company likely has in their tech departments with requirements like this.