I don't expect to learn anything from that CS degree, or find meaning to my life. I would do it exclusively for the piece of paper. I would likely do it online, do the bare minimum work, and not network with other students/teachers at all.
> See I don't get it. You're already employerable, a degree won't move the needle too much, just give you a debt boat-anchor meaning you'll less flexible going forward and less able to find the thing that makes you happy.
I'm employable, but I don't get to be picky in what I work on. A lot of doors are (I think, I could be wrong) closed to me because of my lack of degree. There are not jobs I ever thought I would want (banking, government, management), but I can already feel that I might seek these things when I get older with a family and kids and a need for security.
> I'd strongly recommend you think extremely carefully before you indebted yourself to student loans. If this plain fails, you're stuck in those jobs you hate for tens of years while you pay it off.
What if I could get a degree in 3 years for $10,000? Would your advice still stand? This might actually be a possibility.