I can see though how this would be an issue - in my experience there is a significant difference in quality between developers who just learned how to program on their own, and the developers who hold that engineering degree.
From what I've seen around me, the ones holding the engineering titles simply are more methodical in how they search for a pattern or key to how something works. They will have a better vocabulary to explain themselves too.
But maybe they aren't as good in thinking outside the box?
Kind of like how someone who has completed a formal philosophical education will usually be better figuring out the ins and outs of a particular text but not necessarily will have what it takes to come up with their own? Not sure - I'm a humanities kind of guy who works with engineers.
I've seen a lot of self-taught developers or bootcamp grads switch industry or try to move to "tech-adjacent" roles. Making it as an individual contributor is, in my experience, pretty rare.