[eliot_sykes]

Many coders start out self-taught like you. I did, and then studied for an IT degree and got professional work.

Here's a few things that I wasn't exposed to until I studied /turned professional - maybe some of these are the practices you are talking about?

- Version Control (Git, CVS, Subversion, etc.)

- Database design

- Performance optimization

- Caching

- Design Patterns

- Object oriented design

- Unit testing

Maybe you know these things already, but not knowing these things isn't going to stop you, none of those are worth losing sleep over, you'll pick up what you need on the way.

However, if I had to pick one thing out of that list that I wish I'd encountered sooner it would be version control.

[imp]

I agree with all of these, and I personally would say that the most important ones are version control and OOP. They're two that I put off for a while as a self-taught programmer, but have paid off the most.

I started with PHP, which lulls you into thinking that procedural programming is all you'll ever need. For larger and more complex code bases though, OOP really makes things more organized.

[hga]

Yeah, I also wish I'd made the effort to use that earlier.

Perhaps take the Joel Test in reverse: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html

[pascalchristian]

so according to your experience, does going to college and getting an IT degree worth it? or should non-tech founders self-taught and continue with their startups anyway?

[imp]

I'm not the OP, but I'd recommend reading Founders At Work. I can't remember any specific examples, but I'm pretty sure that there's a mix of both self-taught and traditional CS founders who have been successful.