[raxxorrax]

You can actually complete your master thesis and not be any good at programming. You get introductions to coding, but the skill itself isn't the focus of a CS degree.

It does help having formal education, but you could just as well read some books. A degree is just a certificate that you have done this and at least partially understood the contents.

[BizarroLand]

I know a number of people with B.A. or M.A. degrees in Music who cannot play the piano or any instrument with proficiency, and when they do it's the musical equivalent of watching a person type with 2 fingers.

They can tell you the structure of a composition but not play one, or discuss what makes music beautiful to humans but do not make music themselves.

This isn't a dig on them. It takes all kinds to make the world go round.