[BiggsHoson]

>... I have plan B, plan C, and plan D ready to be put into action if I suddenly don’t have a career in software engineering, or I don’t want a career in software engineering.

I would like to read more about that if you would care to share more details. I cannot imagine a career in anything but software, but this year has me very low on contract work and some backup plans are something I am trying to devise.

[P_I_Staker]

Very skeptical of this. The reality is that most professions shut people out unless they have very specific backgrounds, otherwise you'd see service workers routinely jump to something higher paying. A degree may be enough to get more of a foot in door somewhere, but it's very tough. Chances are you wind up doing something highly undesirable, unless you manage to go the self-employed "entrepreneur" route.