I'm self taught by most accounts, but I have a 4-year degree. I think it's a curious predicament I'm in, because part of the curriculum is "web programming but not really Computer Science". The major I took doesn't even exist in that college anymore- it had a name change and major curriculum overhaul. I think it felt the throes of trying to teach by the tool, which is a big problem in a fast-paced field like web development.

In short, my degree was very "bootcamp-y" in nature, in a decade before coding bootcamps became very popular. Even worse, I think bootcamps have made a lot of my 4-year degree obsolete.

I got a few jobs at mom & pop places, I've consulted for a media agency, and yes, most were indeed contract jobs. But these jobs are not stable as working for a major tech corporation. And these are not places that allow me to really refine my engineering skills and learn how things are developed to a large scale. Building websites for clients that do not intend to grow on a national level are what you'd be limited to if you don't learn the theory behind programming.

However, I have no interest in building my own agency business. I'm a very technical guy through and through. I am an autodidact with a dilemma in which I want to follow the mainstream career path of a CS graduate. One that is marked by working as an engineer reputable companies and connections in these companies. But trying to do that with a self-taught background and with no friends that know me well enough to refer me in a professional capacity, it's been a very rough road.