[venus]

> the truth of life is that having a Masters degree opens 100x more doors than not having it

This is true in some industries but not all. In the world of programming, it is perhaps true for your first couple of jobs. After that, if you have done well, it is basically irrelevant.

If you have access to an excellent CS program like Stanford or MIT, then that is definitely worth it, and any university is good for making social and business connections which can be very valuable later on.

But from a strict getting-a-job perspective - well, I hire programmers for a startup, and I don't place too much weight on a degree. I've seen people with CS degrees who were absolutely useless, and absolute top-notch developers without a degree, and vice versa. I will look at their work and their personalities over some long-ago half-forgotten theoretical knowledge every time.