Realizing that my professors were being paid by the university and not by me, and that they had no natural incentives to ensure I actually passed the course, was a necessary wakeup call. At some point I realized I was spending that money on the opportunity rather than the outcome. I just wish I had clocked it sooner. I never did graduate, but the classes I did complete, when actually exerting the required effort, taught me what I needed to know. Once I had learned how to make myself learn, I found that I was able to adapt adequately to the workforce and the degree became little more than a signal.

It's ... odd, to have arrived at this conclusion. On paper, the decision to drop out once I had a real IT job would be seen as a failure. But it's not like I ever stopped learning. I love to challenge myself to learn new things. And I do feel like GPT and friends somewhat short circuits that process. It's handy for a quick lookup in a subject I'm not interested in, but to actually learn a thing I need to practice doing it. There is no substitute.