Can one pursue a lucrative career in I.T. with only an associate degree?

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and many other tech titans began their careers without finishing their undergrad work first. With that being said, you are competing against candidates with experience and degrees like never before. In the technical fields your ability to code and contribute are frankly as important or even more important than where you went to school or what degree you have. The problem is that your resume will get deselected by evaluation algorithm programs with your job applications by the larger firms. If your goal is to be a programmer then find opportunities to gain experience that you can then use as proof of your skills. Volunteer at non-profits; start a collaboration effort with peers from school on a project/app; propose an internship scenario to a small local firm that you think you can help. Find ways to make your skills and experience better than the person who has the 4 year degree but no practical experience. Whatever you do, set goals and stick to them and remember to enjoy the journey.

If you plan on entering a software development field, start building up a portfolio of projects. A good portfolio of different projects will show employers that you're self motivated and have experience in designing "real-world" applications. From my experience, most hiring managers won't care at all that you don't have a bachelors and will be more concerned with your actual ability to code.

Happy hunting!

Absolutely, every one can get a great job if he/she is interested in the field. It is not matter where you are from but where you want to go, if you learn some thing new in school and do a lot of research work, if you encounter a challenge and use your talent and knowledge to solve it then you get some experience and confidence. The only thing you need to do is to do some projects and improve it, put it on the Github, and discuss with other people, learn from other excellent people. Then you will know more new friends, once they see your abilities, maybe they will recommend you for the jobs of their companies.

I started with IT even though I had a completely different expertise! Dell gave me my chance as a project manager... You need to write down your skills on your social media profile and brand yourself saying you would like a job in the IT sector, your strengths will talk more than your experience sometimes ! You just have to adapt your profile to have an opportunity in IT there are so many interesting jobs to do ! go for it !