I think there is gaps on both sides. University doesn't prepare you for the actual work, but self taught doesn't prepare you for the foundational concepts and algorithms. The most important thing is the willingness to learn. Our field changes a lot, so people should expect to be learning new things. I believe real world experience helps more than the a degree.

A lot of great developers are self-taught...but I hypothesize that many of these developers had one of several advantages in their favor. (1) They began working with tech at an early age, (2) they had the financial wherewithal to focus on tech full-time if introduced at a later age, or (3) they're just really, really smart. I'm not going to categorize myself as one of the "great developers" - but I am self-taught and I did have the advantage of working with tech from an early age. There are different ways in which beginning to work with tech young may be advantageous, but for me, and for others I've seen it seems to be about the sheer quantity of time one has to mess around. It is much harder now to learn new technologies while maintaining other adult responsibilities (work, family) than it was during my child and teenage years. I also think there is some advantage to having been born in a specific period of technologies' explosion. For myself and others, we started with fairly simple technology and the technology grew in complexity around us. We were there every step of the way, so it was not as seismically different as it is for someone attempting to get up to speed now. From a personal perspective, I would note that while I am self-educated that does not mean I do not wish I had a formal education. There are areas in which I am not as strong as those with a formal education (and on the other hand, areas in which I have through hard experience become more flexible/knowledgeable than many with formal training). I don't have evidence, but I suspect that the suggestion that formal education in technology is too quickly outdated is not entirely correct. Sure, what you learn about a particular language may be outdated relatively quickly but other areas tend to stay fairly consistent over time - for example, underlying mathematics, lambda calculus, design patterns, etc. Or, at least, they provide a basic foundation upon which one can build (e.g. knowing x design patterns will help one learn newer y patterns because you understand the reason y is an improvement over x).

I went to a fancy school of book-learning...paid too much money...learned to code on my own. I currently never use anything I did in college, and when I started a company, my first hire was a self-taught developer without a degree. Degrees can help you get in the door but mine hasn't helped in any way with doing the work.

I've been in tech for over a decade, full time for the last 8 years, making really good money. I'm 100% self taught. I dropped out of community college. Real world experience holds real world value.

Is a university degree relevant? Yes. Is it necessary? No. Is it worth the money? Maybe

I've been working for more than 10 years in big companies creating software used for several thousands of users. Never went to the university. I started coding when I was 14 and when it was time to start the university, the level that the university was offering was so low that I basically saw it as a waste of time. Never got a problem to get a job, completely the opposite, my linkedin inbox is flooded with job offers every day 😩

Just make sure you really dive deep into a subject and not just scratch the surface. I have done a bootcamp 4 years ago and am doing just fine. Never went to school. Just make sure you keep learning. Its more about the mindset then the skills!

I'd say, A persons exposure and experience is what matters. People with degrees are not the best all the time :)

It depends what kind of job but a strong portfolio is more important in my experience. Nobody will ask to see a degree or question your talent if you built a successful product.

it depends. For me, a person with experience regardless of education is enough . Sometimes, a university degree speaks alot because it means you learnt other courses not related to your field and you have done some networking

University degrees just helps you land first job unless its ivy league Universities. After that its all about the experience you carry and exposure that you have from your jobs.

For the employer, yes, because it's so much easier to justify hiring someone with a degree vs someone without. I don't think for most tech jobs a degree is needed in terms of skills; We're at a point where there is basically nothing that can be self taught. I'm self taught, working in my field, just now decided to get the degree in that field just in case I need it. I think the entire concept of what the purpose of a degree is has been lost. A degree was initially just proof that you learned "something". For an employer, the "if" should matter, not the "how". At the agency I'm at not one of the designers actually has a "graphic design" degree...

Self-Taught, coding for over 8 yrs, and now I'm a Tech Lead and am poised to continue moving up the chain. I interview a lot of candidates for our engineering teams and having a degree on your resume has plenty of merit, but there's definitely something to be said about someone who is actively in their free time learning how to code and has some type of portfolio that I can easily see. Either way when interviewing, you're going to be evaluated on what you know + some live coding exercises, and degree or not you'll either sink or swim. Always keep at it though regardless! In general - in terms of relevancy, yes it's relevant but certainly not required.

In my opinion college degree is good to have but not required these days as you can quickly learn any new skill online by videos/mooc and become hireable. A degree will help you get your first job. To further develop your career you will need to do:- 1) Need to build your reputation, It can be on Github, StackOverflow, blogs, or testimonial on LinkedIn, etc. 2) Good understanding of concepts like algorithm, design patterns, etc. I believe continuous learning is a key success :)

Work attitude > college degree. I have friends who graduated from bootcamp and they are the most hardworking and curious people I’ve ever met. As long as you are willing to learn, it doesn’t matter where you graduate from. :)

I am from Romania and I fall into the category of dropouts and fully self taught developer. Had quit college after a few months of going, seeing what they are teaching and understanding that it is not for me or for what I want to do in the future. I do not regret a single bit that I had quit college and never actually needed the degree for any jobs that I was personally interested in. This is simply my experience, it depends on a lot of factors tho'!

University studies provide you with something that potentially will help you to succeed in your life. That something, can benefit you in technical jobs but it's not the necessary factor to create the success. If you have already know about your passion, if you know what you want to do and if you are convicted that's where you want to be in your life and if that thing does not need a university degree or college, then skip it. If you do not know what you want to do in your life, then in my opinion a college is one of the best places that they can help you to figure this out. Remember, things are totally different than even 10 years ago. There are so many places today that you can go and find your calling in your life... University is just one of them. My advice is, keep searching. There are tones of technical jobs out there and not all of them need a degree. BTW, in none of the companies that I worked with I was asked to show them my degree or anything else...

Technology change tase is very fast, by the time you have your degree, half of knowledge you'd have would be obsolete. It still nice to know background and why technology got there, but I believe you can find a better options to learn that spending way less money.

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I think it depends on the role and company. In my experience, an education does seem to matter in tech. However, there are exceptions to the rule. My prediction is that over time, conventional educations will become less relevant over time in tech.