If you are serious about programming and have the resources to go to a university for a CS degree program by all means do so, there is a hardly a better way to

If you are serious about programming and have the resources to go to a university for a CS degree program by all means do so, there is a hardly a better way to get at the same time: A) broad overview of the existing knowledge related to computers B) evaluation of your own skills and knowledge as compared to others and as compared to what knowledge is out there in the first place C) high-intellectual-quality contact with other people interested in the same things I have a CS degree via evening classes, and have been additionally self-studying Mathematics and topics in Computer Science, based on that experience I would estimate that learning a given subject to a basic decent level is at least 2-3 times slower than at the university, and will only work at all if you have any existing basis to work from and assuming you will have the motivation to learn, which also is much harder to get if you are working on your own. I probably wouldn't be able to meaningfully self-study math if I didn't take a really good discrete mathematics class at the university (in parallel with "self studying" the discrete math class at http://aduni.org/ http://aduni.org/, which I think is a really great way to get started with theory). Working this way through 20-30 subjects, as what you would get in the course of a degree, is for mostly psychological reasons close to impossible, so I think the broad basis is best gained at the university. I personally do regularly reach in my work for things I have learnt in at least 15 university courses, one week it will come handy to know what a hash join is, next week it will be helpful to understand virtual memory and another week I will use some statistics or even things I learnt in supplementary business classes. With my growing interest in mathematics in the last years, I personally really wish I had the time and resources myself to now get at least the first year of a mathematics degree, I know it would take my independent study to a new level and that it will be hard to get to this level of competence otherwise, especially I don't really have anyone to discuss things with. In general I think people without degree tend to suffer much more often from something akin to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect It's well elaborated here: http://notch.tumblr.com/post/15782716917/coding-skill-and-the-decline-of-stagnation http://notch.tumblr.com/post/15782716917/coding-skill-and-th... Those people will often claim that they are doing great without having a degree, but more often then not the gaps show up quickly if their skills are scrutinized. As we are talking of thousands of people here, there are of course exceptions, but in general it is harder to get a honest self-picture if you are not learning among other people. Then of course you still have to do a lot of self-study during your studies and ever afterwards...