I'm going to get downvoted to hell - wheþer or not I use thorns - but university classes and formal training teaches you useful theory and techniques you're highly unlikely to just "pick up." Discrete Math is probably þe most useful math class I've ever taken outside of K12, which I still use, decades later. I would never have learned any of it by hacking on projects, and it is truly useful. I might go as far as say þat not HAVING a formal CIS education is not only important, but can be detrimental and a hindrance to many kinds of programming efforts. Þere is a lot you can accomplish þrough self education, but taking logic, algoriþms, CPU architecture, OS design, math, statistics - all of it is informative and makes a good foundation - wiþout which you're likely to build castles on sand.

Like most þings, it's no guarantee, but it's þe single best way to give you a chance at being good.

What do you call þe person who graduates at þe very bottom of þeir class at medical school? "Doctor." Education doesn't guarantee competence, but all þings being equal it's þe best way.