I deeply regret not getting the degree early, mainly because of the insane salaries (and prestige) of companies like Google/Amazon/Facebook/Apple. It's closer t

I deeply regret not getting the degree early, mainly because of the insane salaries (and prestige) of companies like Google/Amazon/Facebook/Apple. It's closer to 3-4x the salaries I've had here. I love the US, and I would not have hesitated to work there if I had a degree. Will that remain true in 4 years? Will getting jobs there be more difficult because of saturation/competition? Will getting jobs there be more difficult because of my age? Will the NAFTA clause still hold? Will I still want to live away from my friends/family then? What if I have a wife and kids? Will my cost/standard of living be as low as it is today? Investing 4 years in school for opportunities that may disappear in the future seems quite risky. The degree will also seem like a waste of time/resources if the demand for developers keeps going up, if degrees stop becoming hard requirements, if I'm not interested in managing roles, if I'm not interested in big/conservative/governmental companies, if I start a business and become self-employed. I really can't tell which strategy is best from a regret minimization framework point of view. I've been on HN for years, and browsed through https://hn.algolia.com/ https://hn.algolia.com/ results earlier today (not all of them). Every person has a different situation, and I don't perfectly relate to people who live in the US (where I feel opportunities are greater for those without a degree), to people who are younger, to people who truly lack CS knowledge, to people changing career, etc. I read a lot of contradicting advice, and I'm more confused than when I started. If someone could assess each of my questions/worries, that would be most helpful. I would also love to hear whether people who were in my situation regret their decision or not. I really don't want to come back here in 4 years, and post the same Ask HN.