Let's weigh college, bootcamps, and the self-taught route with blunt pros and cons, then map each path to market realities, hiring filters, and long-term growth. The goal is to help you choose a route that gets you hired faster without stalling your career later.• how degrees are used as filters and where they matter• why top-tier schools win on internships and networks• the gap between CS theory and practical stacks• when bootcamps accelerate outcomes and where they fall short• self-taught pitfalls and how to add structure and accountability• coastal vs mid-market hiring differences and pay signals• skills startups test versus what larger firms test• the minimum effective dose for a hireable portfolio• why fundamentals compound value in years three to five• how AI raises the premium on first principlesSend us a textShameless Plugs Free 5 day email course to go from HTML to AI Got a question you want answered on the pod? Drop it here Apply for 1 of 12 spots at Parsity - Learn to build complex software, work with LLMs and launch your career. AI Bootcamp (NEW) - for software developers who want to be the expert on their team when it comes to integrating AI into web applications.