Are you assuming that a university grad is necessarily "a fully knowledgeable developer/programmer"? ;) Independent study of new concepts, programming languages

Are you assuming that a university grad is necessarily "a fully knowledgeable developer/programmer"? ;) Independent study of new concepts, programming languages, libraries, etc., is almost a requirement in order to be a successful programmer, but it's ultimately experience that brings one closer to what you describe, and I think that many people on HN would agree with me that independent study is sufficient to bring you to a position from which you can begin to acquire said experience. Oh, and the customary nod to SICP: http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/ http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/