[BlargMcLarg]

> How come my soccer friend thinks he can watch a bunch of Javascript youtube clips and take an easy distance course at a university to score him a high paying job 2 months from now? That's not how it works

That is how it works at most places for anyone starting out.

All the formal education is great for seniors and the 3% who do more than push boxes all day. For anything else, it ranges from useful to an active detriment. Given most devs will not be expected to be productive regardless of education and sit 5 years doing mostly the same work, that's a lot of time to train someone into the ideal cargoculter, which will keep them hireable in most of the market.

Vice versa, someone who sees inefficiencies, knows things can be better, etc.? Yeah, you get a few "look I did these amazing things and now my company loves me" stories, but the vast majority will struggle balancing their own desires and thoughts with company processes and political walls.