>I guess my point is that it isn't so much the degree as the person that got a degree. I live in an economically depressed area, and some very intelligent people here just don't have the resources (time & money, with time being the harder of the two.) to attend a college. I encourage these people to play with computers whereever and whenever they get the chance.

Hmmm. Well I see that in your country you have a very different situation than here in Holland. Almost everyone who has the capabilities has a chance to go to universaty.

>Taking classes at a college is a very valid way to learn about CS... but its not the only way.

Of course its not. But I really do think this is the most efficient and easy way.

>And not all college graduates are created equal. At my last job, I was being _productive_ in a FPDos 1.02 within a week. On the other hand, I had someone who graduated from the same program that I did that was never really all that productive. She was a hard worker, but she really didn't get it.

I totally agree. Once my teacher said: "Designing databases is supposed to be a common job like a carpenter, which everyone should be able to learn." In my opinion you can only learn this when you have a certain feeling. By this it is much closer to art than a craft.

Then you could have the situation where a non graduate with the right feeling outperforms someone with a degree and without the neccesary feeling.

Walter,