[mock-possum]

I mean speak for yourself I guess, I learned a ton of programming fundamentals in pursuit of my CS degree and that laid the foundation directly for my career in web engineering.

I entered the job market already experienced with the tools, languages, and then-popular libraries and frameworks - I learned exponentially more on the job, of course, but that learning was built my college education. It would have been a struggle to get right to work without it.

[sneed-oil]

The same is true for me, but I could have learned those things without going to college and without wasting time studying subjects that have never been useful in my work.

[mock-possum]

Yeah I know I could have, but to be honest, outside of a classroom setting, and perhaps especially lacking enthusiastic peers to engage with and co-operate with - I am really not confident that I could have done a better job learning on my own terms in 4 years than I did at college.

I suppose, one nuance might be - I wasn't 'just going to college to get a degree' - I was there specifically to learn skills that would make me hireable. It helped that I liked the subject matter, undoubtedly.

Also that I had to borrow all the money to pay for it myself.