Really? That wasn't my experience at University at all. Every practical assignment had at least one lab session, where usually both the lecturer of the module, and some more senior students (final year undergrads for 1st/2nd year classes, typically PhD students for 3rd, 4th year classes) to help with implementation. We got feedback on every piece of code we ever wrote.
>Tons of my friends work at YC companies with either unrelated degrees or none at all.
That's great. How many jobs are the YC companies contributing? I'm sure they're (mostly)all amazing places to work, but there's plenty of jobs you wont even be picked up from the pile of CVs if you haven't done a degree. You might not like HR departments, but most companies have them, and it's generally not a good move to alienate them if you don't need to.
>Unlike a lot of posters here I really don't see anything wrong with not getting the degree.
I think it's important that I reply to this point, just so you don't misunderstand me. I don't think there's anything _wrong_ with not getting a degree - I have plenty of friends who either didn't finish or didn't attend University, and many of them are in good jobs (some of them in tech). That said, it's important OP knows what you _do_ get by having a degree - and I'd strongly disagree with your statement about it being one of the least useful degrees.