@nixCraft My supervisor for almost 2 years was degreed in computer science and super knowledgeable. He's a good programmer and an awesome senior to have available for questions.
I'm self-taught and generally regarded as really good at this but it's largely because I'm aggressively autodidactic and genuinely love doing the best work I can do.
We're not as far apart as 2 degreed programmers, one who cares about doing good work and one who cares only about getting good pay.