I get the impression that a lot of people saying that school doesn’t matter underestimate not only the signalling but also how much solid foundations make for e

I get the impression that a lot of people saying that school doesn’t matter underestimate not only the signalling but also how much solid foundations make for easy learning later on. I’ve transitioned to programming in my late 20s. First I tried to learn by doing, without any formal education, and everything was grueling and I barely understood what I was doing. Then I got some formal education, and now I have much clearer mental models of how lots of things work, vastly improving my efficiency and quality. I’ve practiced a lot on my own too, but my side projects throughout these years would have never taught me certain topics which have actually come up in real life (most recent example I remember is graph traversal). It’s clear that some people have an outstanding creativity and drive and can explore even remote corners of the discipline on their own. For the rest of us who still love the science, college remains a great solution.