What differentiates a real career professional with someone who just "learned how to code" IS the fundamentals like Data Structures, Algorithms and their underl

What differentiates a real career professional with someone who just "learned how to code" IS the fundamentals like Data Structures, Algorithms and their underlying math fundamentals. Sure, you can become a "senior" engineer even at a big tech company if you take a more product-focused track, but even there your lack of mastery of fundamentals will eventually limit and stunt your career growth, because those around you at the same level will have that deep understanding and knowledge to pull from when they actually need it for their job. Notice I didn't say this requires a COLLEGE education, I've met plenty of amazing, very senior engineers in my career with no formal degree or college education, but they sure as hell understood all the underlying fundamentals and theory of their field better than most.