I learned a lot in my CS program I probably never would have discovered by myself and much of it is foundational skills I subconsciously use when solving proble

I learned a lot in my CS program I probably never would have discovered by myself and much of it is foundational skills I subconsciously use when solving problems. I also understand what the trade offs that need to be made and where my optimization time should be spent. When in college I did a whole lot of programming using version control (CVS in my time, kids have it good today!), API's and various programming languages. I didn't need my college to teach me these things. It was the application of what I was learning in school. Also, in college we had a Software Engineering course elective, a Testing course elective and some other more practical course electives that most people took because it was, well, practical skills. So I think a decent mix of theory and practical skills are best but the it is also up to the student to engage themselves outside their program to learn "real world" skills. That's especially easy for students today with tools like Github and OSS becoming such a huge thing.