I actually agree in part with what you say regarding having the discipline of going to class and a teacher versus self-learning. You are probably being downvot

I actually agree in part with what you say regarding having the discipline of going to class and a teacher versus self-learning. You are probably being downvoted because of the second sentence talking bad about self-learned programmers when it's a popular opinion that there are many self-learned programmers. I personally only downvote when someone is being rude/out of line or says something that is flat-out false, never for opinions. I find HN to be harsh frequently (no specially more so than other inet places but still) and I'm actually a bad day away of taking the route others have taken and just leave.