> Now at 35 nobody even asks about the degree anymore. So a degree is not worth that much in this industry compared to practical skills.
At 35, maybe.
Before that, a degree is worth a lot.
At 35, maybe.
Before that, a degree is worth a lot.
School is essentially trash for demonstrating "can program in a business environment". If you're aiming for a research-heavy position it may help, but that's an extreme minority of jobs. And after a couple years it's useless again anyway - you're either continuing your self-education and improving, or you're stagnant, and your prior education doesn't play all that much of a role.
There are some people who definitely benefit from structured learning environments, so I don't ever try to dissuade people from going to college. Rather, I try to get everyone to just start building stuff and releasing it open source and contributing to open source as soon as they can. If you can learn how to search effectively, read documentation effectively, and program proficiently in at least one language you don't really need college.
If your goal is to get a job at FAANG or another big company early in your career you absolutely need a degree. For other jobs it will make things harder but it's not really a requirement. If you still want to work at FAANG 2 or 3 years of industry experience is worth more than a degree.
May help with the initial job, but to be honest - you don't really want to work for a place that gives a shit about your degree. Just your capabilities or potential.
However not everyone has that luxury, especially outside of tech-hubs. And even more so outside of NA.