Background: I have a CS degree and immediately after graduating I went to found my video-game startup, about 15 years ago. Had moderate to good success without

Background: I have a CS degree and immediately after graduating I went to found my video-game startup, about 15 years ago. Had moderate to good success without ever needing to be employed. In my case, I would say set the goal of learning difficult, rare and valuable skills (IE: interested in databases? Read 3 hard books about databases) and you will be ahead of the curve. If you can't keep up, a degree might be the choice. If you do go for the startup way, one advice I would give my old self is to keep time to learn more and enjoy time with friends and family. I spent almost one year, 365 days, 8am to 12 midnight, no Sunday breaks, programming inside a cave. I only met friends about a handful of times. Hardly came out of the house. I think I even missed a funeral. That's bad. Don't do it.