[fifteen3]

If you only want to be a programmer, drop out. Anyone can learn how to program.

The unfortunate thing is that so many people believe that. As a result there is a saturation of poor programmers and weeding through the mess of poor programmers vs good/smart/intelligent/imaginative programmers is a pain in the ass.

Most people (not all) who hire, will weed out programmers who apply without a CS degree.

I am not saying a CS degree is better than 10 years experience.

I am saying you will have to deal with humans just like yourself who have their own perceptions and their own beliefs about what is or is not required to be hired.

So when you apply for that job and you don't have a CS degree or 10 years experience what do you have?

You have nothing to prove that you are the genius that you are.

Join an open source project if you are that eager to get your hands dirty.