[leif]

At a university.

I can't tell you how sick I am of laypeople thinking they can just pick up one or two programming languages in a couple hours a week and get a job. These people end up with a very small skillset and no knowledge of what things they don't know or where they might learn those things, and therefore they're of negative worth to a programming team. You need the experience and breadth of at least topical expertise before you'll be of any use to anyone.

[rezrovs]

University will teach you the underlying principles of computing and give you the foundation and knowledge to be a better programmer, but it won't necessarily teach you how to be a programmer.

It doesn't teach you a variety of languages or the language that you hope to work with professionally. It doesn't teach you about version control or how to work with legacy code.

I decided to get a degree because it would make be a better programmer and hopefully that has happened. But it wasn't going to a university that taught me how to get stuff done in a language I like.

For reference: I have been in the programming industry for seven years and only this year will I finish my degree (been studying part time).

[leif]

At a good university, with the intent of putting in lots of extra effort on your own and going beyond the scope of the classes.

I contest that the vast majority cannot program effectively without the foundation you get at a university, nor without learning what knowledge is out there that you don't have yet.

Also, my university had a class all about version control, legacy code, and portability. [so, suck it, other universities ;-)]

[gruseom]

The issue here isn't the not getting a degree part, it's the "couple hours a week" part. To become a good programmer takes aptitude and practice, probably in roughly equal measure. A CS degree is relevant, but optional: many good programmers don't have one and many degree holders suck.