At the end of the day I think its a question of what you value more "money" or "time". If money is your main concern, use books and online courses. If time is

At the end of the day I think its a question of what you value more "money" or "time". If money is your main concern, use books and online courses. If time is your main concern, get an MS at a good CS program. My problem with teaching myself is that it's hard for me to stay motivated after the first couple of weeks. Now this just me -- it's not you. So maybe you don't have this problem at all, but I've found school to be a good motivator. Plus having a good professor can help get through the tough spots. I studied complexity under Papadimitriou and he was great at explaining things I struggled with. One problem with school though is you'll have less flexibility to skip things you don't care about, and investigate those things you do. That can be a blessing or a curse.