Thanks for all the responses. Most of the responses that support going to college seem to argue based on the value of a degree, instead of the education and skills.
It seems that most of us agree that the education, skills, and networking can be found elsewhere. But there's also a decent consensus on the value of a degree.
nirvana, thanks for your input. I'll definitely consider your viewpoints and whether the piece of paper is worth it.
I've done some programming in Python and am currently learning Ruby.
One of the differences I see is Python's philosophy of having one, correct way to do things, while Ruby supports having multiple ways. This difference in philosophy seems to be clear in the language design. Python usually has one or two accepted ways to do basic tasks, while Ruby has more.
It's a little frustrating because in Ruby, I have to remember different syntax and constructs for doing the same basic thing. I'd much rather just have to remember one way, and expect other people's code to use that one way (ie, Python is more readable).
Python also seems to have a larger community and more well-developed/useful libraries and tools. I don't think NumPy and SciPy have equivalents in Ruby.
Also, even though Ruby says it advocates the principle of least surprise, I'm often surprised by Ruby, and much less so by Python.
Just a suggestion. Have you thought about freelancing? I've seen threads here where freelancers seem to be able to make a decent amount, provided they know the right technology and spend some time carving out a niche / getting to know clients. Maybe you can try searching for those threads and see what technologies are in demand?
Freelancing could be something you try to get into while looking for a job. And it would also be a way to build your resume.
Thanks for the responses. Yeah, I was thinking that it was very important to actually learn the "computer science" part and not just the programming part.
It seems that most of us agree that the education, skills, and networking can be found elsewhere. But there's also a decent consensus on the value of a degree.
nirvana, thanks for your input. I'll definitely consider your viewpoints and whether the piece of paper is worth it.