[ZhangBanger]

You do learn certain basics from a degree, and building fundamentals is important. That being said, a degree is neither the exclusive nor universally optimal way to grok logic and problem structuring. The most important piece of the puzzle is your willingness to turn over stones, ponder problems, and fill in blanks tirelessly. Software engineering is an immense field, and there are always more blanks to fill.

The fortunate thing about online education today (coursera/udacity to name a few) is that it strips away a lot of the tough/complex issues, offers you a bite-sized problem, and breaks it down into a manageable chunk that a non-tech person can solve. It's not unlike how a management consulting case interview might go - you can't possibly know everything about an industry/space, but you can (1) break out a facet of the problem, (2) ask some questions, and (3) distill the incoming data. You develop understanding incrementally.

I'm a big fan of incrementality (also in writing software). Everybody starts out writing "Hello World!"