The distinction/dichotomy is over-blown. It may be that most people you work with have CS degrees, but that doesn't mean most people you work with aren't self-t

The distinction/dichotomy is over-blown. It may be that most people you work with have CS degrees, but that doesn't mean most people you work with aren't self-taught. That's because most self-taught programmers end up with degrees -- either in CS or other fields. All of the good programmers I know had substantial personal projects and/or open source contributions before starting college, and continued throughout college. The answer also depends on what problems you'd like to work on and where you'd like to work.