Well, I concede formal education isn't much compared to hands-on experience, but public education is dirt cheap where I live, even free if you have a scholarship like I do (I'm French just so you know). So IMO, having a degree at such a price isn't useless nor a time/money sink - at least when comparing to US/UK, but I don't want to think it exempt me from working on my own on side projects.

I'll most likely need certifications, but my scholarship cannot cover that for now. I'll save up for those once I'm in a taskforce.