And probably at some point in our careers have had to modify code written by a "self-taught" developer.

I know I sure did. The only problem was that the self taught developer was me < s >. I still remember how painful it was to learn VFP by trial and error. That is why I decided on a more structured approach for C# - I want to avoid some of the bruises < s >.

I know it's difficult to study by yourself sometimes. But it pay's for itself multiple times over.

That is why I decided to take this college course. It was much cheaper than the typical Microsoft 5 day "cram it down your throat" type of course (only cost $1100 and that included the parking permit). I also figured that going to class 2 days a week for 4 months, doing the homework assignements and taking the exams would make some of the stuff I learned "stick".

Between my first ASP.NET app and the second, so much time had elapsed that I was back to square one and had to leatn everything all over again.