I'm sorry but this simply sounds like you're searching for justification to yourself. I gained nearly no networking value from my time in post-secondary. I have gained far more from being capable of creating great interpersonal relationships and connections between people who could easily be perfect strangers only an hour ago.

No network is worth paying an administration and professor hundreds of thousands.

People are perfectly capable of having conversations outside of that setting, just look at this thread. We're not in a school, we're online, and all have different backgrounds and perspectives.

I have had more of a personal transformation over the past 8 years of my life with nearly none of that coming from my college experiences. Once upon a time I was as articulate as sum1 dat type lik diz yo. I learned about history, philosophy, religion, languages, cultures, foods, how to create inter-personal relationships, studying behaviour, some basic psychology, debate, frameworks of thought, and so much more. Did I learn any of this at post-secondary? Of course not.

So keep your IDE, I'll stick with EMACS and VIM.

Lastly, don't attribute success due to your own ambition to going to a school. Without your ambition you'd have a lovely job using a masters to deliver pizza, your success in school came along for the ride.