I started my programming career at 17. Suffered burnout at 21. Went to university for a year but was offered a job that was too good to pass up. So I left and d

I started my programming career at 17. Suffered burnout at 21. Went to university for a year but was offered a job that was too good to pass up. So I left and didn’t return to school until I was 30. I took 2-3 classes per semester plus spring and summer courses through correspondence. I continued to work (freelance/consulting) during that time. My degree is an Honours Math degree (no minor), but took a few upper level CS courses, linguistics, classics, and a few other electives which were all very rewarding in terms of academic experience. I had in mind to pursue a PhD but I’ve been successfully freelancing since graduating. It took me at least a year or two of asking the same questions you are before I finally made the decision to start taking classes again. I was in a good situation financially so that wasn’t a hurdle. In the end I felt it was just something I had to do.