Peeling back the clearly insulting bias in the phrasing of the question, I do believe in programming as a craft. By that I mean that it's possible to become pretty good at it by just screwing around on your own, but you're fooling yourself if you think that you don't have something to learn from the academy.
To use an analogy, I think of myself as a decent carpenter, but I'm always blown away when I watch "This Old House," because Tom Silva is always busting out really great shortcuts that make things like scribing molding to the wall look really easy. I'm sure he invented some of those tricks on his own, but I'm also betting that he learned a lot of them from his days as an apprentice carpenter to someone older and wiser.
I think it's definitely possible to get such an education without ever setting foot in a school, for example by working closely with a skilled mentor, but I do think it would be hard to naturally stumble upon all of these key areas without someone laying out a self-study plan for you.
I agree. I think the apprenticeship model would work far better for programming than the lecture/assignment/exam model. Solving real world problems and learning on the job under the eye of a mentor would be invaluable.
The person/company offering the apprenticeship would get cheap labour for a few years in return for helping the young apprentice learn everything they need.
To use an analogy, I think of myself as a decent carpenter, but I'm always blown away when I watch "This Old House," because Tom Silva is always busting out really great shortcuts that make things like scribing molding to the wall look really easy. I'm sure he invented some of those tricks on his own, but I'm also betting that he learned a lot of them from his days as an apprentice carpenter to someone older and wiser.
I think it's definitely possible to get such an education without ever setting foot in a school, for example by working closely with a skilled mentor, but I do think it would be hard to naturally stumble upon all of these key areas without someone laying out a self-study plan for you.