Coming to cad late in life

Dunno if this is the right community, but I don't know where else to ask since r/cad is private. I see there are still searching for people who know how to use various cad software in my area, and thought I might try giving it a go. I'm 32 and only really worked with blender in terms of 3d. I know I'm old but I'm looking for a job, and I like working with model. Plus learning this type of enviroment doesn't feel heavy to me. I have some questions:

Is it possible to find a job if I learned the programs on my own, instead of showing a degree or something?

How much do people care if I use alternatives to paid programs? If I can't add autocad to my cv but i show a long portfolio made with freecad/librecad/other?