I'm a 'self-learner' (graduated with a non-CS degree) who went through the Machine Learning course on Coursera, which inspired me to pursue my Master's in Computer Science

You are right about self-learners avoiding heavy academic subjects. The huge problem with self-learning is that I had a moron for a teacher. There's just too many unknown unknowns - I didn't know what I was missing out on.

Oh, and the credential helps too. Immigration departments don't look at Github profiles :)