I understand where you're coming from, but unfortunately employers read articles like these and use them as justification to solidify their notion that self-tau

I understand where you're coming from, but unfortunately employers read articles like these and use them as justification to solidify their notion that self-taught programmers are less knowledgeable or less reliable than their peers with degrees, and hence should be paid less or not be hired at all. I've experienced it firsthand. You may argue "that's not a place you'd want to work at anyway," but unfortunately in a down economy one does not always have the luxury of rejecting work on principle. If you've ever looked into the eyes of your cat dying of cancer and felt ashamed that you didn't earn enough money to bring him the proper care to extend his life, then you'd possibly understand that prejudice against self-taught programmers who didn't have the opportunity to attend a university can be a real problem. Playing into the stereotype that we're all afraid to learn and happened to get lucky in getting a job isn't helpful. The work you're doing is wonderful. The problem I had with it is that a simple modification to it (not phrasing it in a condescending way toward self-taught programmers) would've made it so much better.