I had friends back in college in the 90s who did this. Their rational being "the job market is so hot, why bother getting a degree when I can start making money right now." Back then it seemed like anyone with a CCNA could start making 60k a year. Then the bubble burst, and suddenly it wasn't so easy to get a job anymore.
It's during the down times that I think more weight gets put on degrees. Not necessarily because they're the best metric, but because they're one more metric you can use to filter against when you have a vast pool of candidates. Of course, any decent engineer is unlikely to be competing against a 'vast pool of candidates' right now, because the competition for talent is so fierce. But just because that's the state of the job market today, doesn't mean it will be that way tomorrow.
All that being said, some of the best programmers I've known were self-taught and had no degree. Either way, I wish the OP best of luck.
Most of the best programmers I've known were initially self-taught, but also have university degrees. Which after they are 30-35 is crucial if they want to move up the ladder to executive within a corporate environment.
Having spent the last few months back in Toronto, I'm quite surprised by the number of people I meet (some old friends) who have MBA (from a top school), CA/CMA/CPA, CFA, CSI* courses and ten plus years of good quality work experience who are unemployed or significantly under-employed. Luck, or lack of it, has played a part for some of them not currently having a job, with companies they joined cutting teams or closing down.
There is an 'arms race' here for more advanced degrees & designations that makes it really tough to either keep up or get back into the race if you fall out of it.
* CSI = Canadian Securities Institute, CFA = Chartered Financial Analyst, CA/CMA/CPA = Accounting designations
It's during the down times that I think more weight gets put on degrees. Not necessarily because they're the best metric, but because they're one more metric you can use to filter against when you have a vast pool of candidates. Of course, any decent engineer is unlikely to be competing against a 'vast pool of candidates' right now, because the competition for talent is so fierce. But just because that's the state of the job market today, doesn't mean it will be that way tomorrow.
All that being said, some of the best programmers I've known were self-taught and had no degree. Either way, I wish the OP best of luck.