Disclaimer: I am a self taught programmer. Personally I prefer self taught engineers over university or other education. Autodidacts are generally more motivat

Disclaimer: I am a self taught programmer. Personally I prefer self taught engineers over university or other education. Autodidacts are generally more motivated to learn in my experience and represent the very best engineers I have had the pleasure of working with. The best university educated minds I have worked with have tended to come from non-CS backgrounds, specifically mathematics and physics. This is not to say CS degrees are not useful, just my personal anecdotal evidence leads me to favor the self taught, mostly for their attitude and general grit.