My master's degree was essentially thermodynamics, all the various aspects of it, and I have never met anyone self-taught in that area. You just do not sit down

My master's degree was essentially thermodynamics, all the various aspects of it, and I have never met anyone self-taught in that area. You just do not sit down and just learn about the physics of energy (storage, conversion, transmission, ...). Part of the reason is that at least in mechanical engineering, the curricula are more or less well-curated and grew over many decades, if not centuries. You learn maths, electrical engineering, mechanics, fluids etc. all at the same time, and they all intertwine. Sometimes one is the basis to learn about the next (mechanics lays the foundation for fluids mechanics; maths is simply the foundation of everything you do and learn). Other times you discover meta-connections that elevate your understanding of everything in combination (voltage, pressure and temperature as potentials, current, mass flow and heat flow as flows resulting from that potential; each with their respective resistances: ohm (or impedance), friction, heat transfer coefficient). It all comes together beautifully and forms a new, elevated whole. I am willing to bet I will go through life without ever meeting someone self-taught, in my field. Computer science might be different, but people confuse computer science and coding. Coding you can self-teach easily, computer science not so much. That is more on the level of self-teaching maths, and I have never met such a person, either.