You forgot to mention that employers will often overlook "self-taught" programmers because they lack a degree. Before getting a degree, I tried applying for a lot of jobs and they often didn't even give me a chance, but once in a while, when they did, I showed them I was more than capable of handling difficult tasks through my performance in technical interviews. Nowadays, I only need to have a brief conversation with the tech lead to get a job, which feels really nice. So while I'm not exactly light years ahead of where I was before starting my degree (I definitely learned a lot, don't get me wrong), it feels much easier getting jobs because I have credentials to validate my competence, I don't have to prove it.
You forgot to mention that employers will often overlook "self-taught" programmers because they lack a degree. Before getting a degree, I tried applying for a lot of jobs and they often didn't even give me a chance, but once in a while, when they did, I showed them I was more than capable of handling difficult tasks through my performance in technical interviews. Nowadays, I only need to have a brief conversation with the tech lead to get a job, which feels really nice. So while I'm not exactly light years ahead of where I was before starting my degree (I definitely learned a lot, don't get me wrong), it feels much easier getting jobs because I have credentials to validate my competence, I don't have to prove it.
That's a good point!