[kartickvad]

I doubt that there are cheaper and better ways to become a practician than going through college. In India, where I live, most companies are not interested in you unless you have a degree. The normal path to a career in programming is to get a CS degree. And the normal outcome from a CS degree is a career in tech. So, they are much more closely related than you acknowledge, at least in my part of the world (things may be different in yours).

[karmapolice]

Yes, it happens also in Spain: companies want college degrees for their software factories, and at the same time complain that colleges do not teach anything useful.

It's not colleges fault, in my opinion.