Maybe, two things should be separated: Self-learning ability and a lot of practice in it, and exposure to the real-world learning environment full of teachers and peers.

Clearly, those, who practice self-learning (and in the childhood it is practicing curiosity towards the world) not just have an advantage, they have a tremendous one.

And clearly one can learn almost everything in programming from books and videos.

I just wanted to say that by not attending the university there is a risk to become somewhat a mowgli, who knows how program machine, but can’t effectively communicate: Make himself understood and understand others.

And those, who are deciding “To degree or not to degree?”, should take that into account as well, and the problem is: They may underestimate what educational institution provides.

Learning and self-learning as cognitive processes are very-very similar (There are no machines yet, which just put knowledge into your head). It’s environment, which differs, and choice of contents.

And I’d argued our brains use the whole sum of our knowledge in our reasoning and creative decisions. Even if one thinks, lets say, “Formal verification” course is highly irrelevant to everyday code-monkey’s tasks, being exposed to that already changed one’s intuitions towards better decisions. Will self-learner choose that voluntarily? Perhaps, in 0,5 % of cases.

Thanks for thought provoking article. It will surely help those on the cross-roads to make better choices.