Terms of Use

Effective Date: October 11, 2026

Welcome to Built Without the Degree (“BWTD,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your use of the BWTD website and its content, forms, stories, and services.

By using BWTD, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the website.

1. What BWTD Is

BWTD is a career-discovery and media platform designed to help people learn about career paths, including paths that may not require a traditional four-year bachelor's degree.

BWTD is not anti-college. Its purpose is to give people more information about the options available to them.

2. Career Information Is Informational

BWTD provides career information for general informational and educational purposes.

Information may include:

• compensation data;
• education or training information;
• licensing or certification information;
• career descriptions;
• employment outlook information;
• stories from individuals; and
• links to outside resources.

Career-wide information is generally based on the sources identified on the relevant page, including government and other third-party sources.

BWTD does not guarantee that information will always be complete, current, or applicable to your particular circumstances.

Requirements may vary by employer, state, jurisdiction, occupation, or individual situation.

You should verify important licensing, education, certification, compensation, employment, and regulatory information with the applicable employer, regulator, licensing authority, school, or other authoritative source before making a decision.

3. No Guarantee of Employment or Earnings

BWTD does not guarantee:

• employment;
• admission to a training program;
• licensing or certification;
• career advancement;
• salary;
• commissions;
• business income;
• any particular financial outcome; or
• that following another person's career path will produce the same result.

Compensation figures may be based on national data or personal experiences and are not promises of what you will earn.

One person's experience is one person's experience.

4. Personal Stories

BWTD publishes stories based on information shared by real people.

Stories may be edited and organized for clarity, length, and readability while remaining faithful to the substance of what the interviewee shared.

Personal stories reflect an individual's experience and should not be treated as a universal description of an occupation or a guarantee of similar results.

Where a direct quote is presented as a quote, BWTD's editorial standard is that it remain faithful to what the person actually said.

5. Age Requirements

You do not need to be 18 to browse the general BWTD website or subscribe to the newsletter.

However:

• you must be at least 18 to submit your own story;
• you must be at least 18 to nominate another person through BWTD's nomination form; and
• BWTD interview participants must be at least 18.

6. Story Submissions

Submitting a story gives BWTD permission to:

• receive and review the submission;
• store it;
• evaluate whether it may be appropriate for BWTD; and
• contact the submitter about it.

Submitting a story does not give BWTD permission to publish the story.

Publication requires a separate permission process.

You should only submit information that you are permitted to provide.

You are responsible for the accuracy of information you knowingly provide and should not intentionally submit false, misleading, unlawful, infringing, or impersonated information.

7. Nominations

You may nominate another person for BWTD to consider interviewing.

A nomination does not give BWTD permission on that person's behalf to:

• publish their story;
• publish their photograph;
• publish their compensation;
• use their video or audio;
• use AI to process their interview; or
• otherwise represent that the nominee has approved participation.

Any required permission must come from the nominee.

When nominating someone, do not intentionally provide false information, impersonate another person, or provide information that you do not have a lawful right to provide.

8. Ownership and Permission to Publish

Interviewees retain ownership of their original stories, photographs, and other materials they provide.

Where an interviewee separately gives BWTD publication permission, BWTD may use the approved material in accordance with that permission.

The current publication permission may allow BWTD to edit, organize, publish, display, and promote approved material through:

• the BWTD website;
• the BWTD newsletter; and
• BWTD-owned social media channels.

Editing and organization must remain faithful to the substance of what the interviewee shared.

Photographs, compensation information, and video or audio require their applicable separate permissions.

The specific permission or release agreed to by the interviewee controls if it differs from these general Terms.

9. AI-Assisted Drafting

When an interviewee has been informed and agrees, BWTD may use a third-party AI service to help organize an interview transcript into a draft.

AI output is not automatically published.

A person reviews and edits stories before publication, and publication remains subject to the interviewee's applicable permissions.

An interviewee may decline AI processing and still have their story prepared manually.

BWTD does not use AI-generated output as the source for its career-wide pay data.

10. Withdrawal of Story Permission

An interviewee may request withdrawal of previously granted publication permission by contacting cole@builtwithoutthedegree.com.

Subject to applicable legal and recordkeeping requirements, BWTD will stop new use of the affected material and remove it from channels BWTD controls within a reasonable period.

BWTD cannot guarantee deletion from third-party systems, search engines, caches, archives, screenshots, reposts, or copies that are outside BWTD's control.

11. Sponsored and Partner-Supported Content

BWTD may publish sponsored or partner-supported content.

When content is sponsored or partner-supported, BWTD's policy is to clearly label it.

A sponsorship, partnership, link, or reference does not itself guarantee the quality, suitability, availability, or results of a third-party product, employer, training provider, school, or service.

12. Partner Inquiries

Organizations may contact BWTD about potential partnerships, sponsorships, recruiting, training programs, content, or other opportunities.

Submitting a partner inquiry does not create a partnership, contract, agency relationship, exclusivity arrangement, or obligation for BWTD to respond or proceed.

Any actual commercial relationship requires a separate agreement.

13. BWTD Intellectual Property

Except for material owned by interviewees, third parties, or otherwise identified, the BWTD website and its original branding, design, written content, organization, graphics, software, and other original materials are owned by or licensed to BWTD and are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws.

You may use BWTD for ordinary personal and informational purposes.

You may not copy, reproduce, republish, sell, commercially exploit, or systematically extract substantial portions of BWTD content without permission except where applicable law allows it.

14. Acceptable Use

You may not use BWTD to:

• violate applicable law;
• impersonate another person or organization;
• knowingly submit materially false or fraudulent information;
• harass, threaten, or harm another person;
• submit content you do not have the right to provide;
• send spam or automated abusive submissions;
• interfere with the website's security or operation;
• attempt unauthorized access to administrative systems or data;
• introduce malicious code;
• circumvent rate limits or security measures; or
• scrape or systematically extract the website in a manner that materially interferes with the service or violates applicable law.

BWTD may restrict access or disregard submissions when reasonably necessary to protect the website, its users, or others.

15. Third-Party Websites and Services

BWTD may link to or discuss third-party:

• employers;
• training providers;
• schools;
• government websites;
• social networks;
• products;
• services; or
• other resources.

BWTD does not control those third parties and is not responsible for their content, availability, privacy practices, terms, actions, or services.

You are responsible for evaluating third-party offerings before relying on them or entering into a relationship with them.

16. Corrections

BWTD aims to use reliable sources and clearly distinguish sourced career data from individual experiences.

If you believe something on BWTD is inaccurate, contact:

cole@builtwithoutthedegree.com

BWTD may review and correct content where appropriate.

17. Disclaimer of Warranties

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, BWTD is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis.

BWTD does not make warranties that:

• the website will always be available or error-free;
• all information will always be complete or current;
• any career, training program, employer, or opportunity will be suitable for you; or
• use of BWTD will produce a particular career or financial result.

Nothing on BWTD constitutes individualized legal, financial, employment, educational, licensing, or professional advice.

18. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, BWTD and the people involved in operating it will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages arising from or related to your use of, inability to use, or reliance on BWTD.

BWTD is not responsible for employment, education, training, financial, or other decisions you make based on information available through the website.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

19. Changes to BWTD

We may add, remove, modify, suspend, or discontinue features, content, forms, or other portions of BWTD.

We may also update these Terms from time to time.

When we make material changes, we will update the effective date at the top of these Terms.

Continued use of BWTD after updated Terms become effective constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms to the extent permitted by law.

20. Governing Law and Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Colorado, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

To the extent a dispute relating to these Terms or BWTD may properly be brought in court, the parties agree to the jurisdiction of state or federal courts located in Colorado, except where applicable law provides otherwise.

These Terms do not require mandatory arbitration.

21. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in effect to the extent permitted by law.

22. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be sent to:

Built Without the Degree

cole@builtwithoutthedegree.com