No, but it helps. I would love to bash programming (pun!) at the university level like everyone else. To put this in perspective, I almost flunked out of my CS

No, but it helps. I would love to bash programming (pun!) at the university level like everyone else. To put this in perspective, I almost flunked out of my CS program and now I have started a programming startup that is doing quite well for itself. But, college teaches you 3 very important things about programming that you probably otherwise wouldn't have, or be as likely to have learned by yourself: 1. A solid foundation in engineering that spans across fields that you wouldn't normally know you need until you need them. ie. simple linux kernel theory, machine code, etc. 2. Meeting strict deadlines and iterating through imperfection. School forces you to continually program and learn faster than you would by yourself. CS is a hard major, setting extremely short deadlines on huge projects has taught me to focus and stay on task. It gave me the confidence to finish fast and iterate faster. 3. The other skillz needed for (life) business, ie. finance, accounting, people skills, etc.