What if you dont have a degree or recent experience and want to land an IT job

I think the best situation in your case is stack up on certifications. You are going to need some kind of real world experience to back the salary or rates you want. It is going to be tedious, but it can be done.

If your bottom line is 20- 25 an hr, it does not make financial sense to take less. I am in the same boat; I was getting 25 for the last few roles when I deserved 32 or more for my background. But the industry is tedious and it's alot of under hand vendors giving IT consultants sharecrop deals. It is not supposed to be like this. IT staff were once respected more. Now, working at a Citrix support firm, even though I dont know much, I been around long enough to know something, and next role I can say; I want at least 62k or more. In the next few weeks I will take my Server MTA cert:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/learning/exam-98-365.aspx   

We have to be diligent and focus on big data, virtualization and the cloud, so we dont get swept up in the help desk career. (It marks the 15-23 an hr range.)

I have a plan we can work:

1. Obtain that A+; slap it on resume soon as you certify. A+ is globally recognized by DoD.

2.See if you can get an internship part time somewhere, anywhere outside of your full time now. Even volunteer if possible; park board etc.

3.Work towards Sec+ and some networking certs such as MTA networking fundamentals or N+.

4. We stand on that 25.00 and take no less until a good offer is made. (if you already make that and can afford to stand on it)

5. Get some dedicated colleagues and friends interested in a serious study group for a tougher cert, people that want to see you truly succeed.

6. Let's say you are good at Salesforce Maybe you can build off that depending on how an expert you are:  http://certification.salesforce.com/   Then you land a SME salesforce role in the mean time, once that supports salesforce and tech support. Dont let them cast you in just salesforce support.....let them know you want to grow.

It's tough landing what you should have earned with little experience (any IT person I personally believe should get that 25.00/hr no matter what because its a technical field.)

So start working in that order!