There is nothing a computer science course teaches, or indeed, any university course really, that can't be learned by someone who didn't go through that course. Undergrad computer science is indeed one of the easiest things to self-teach because of the ready availability of the "lab materials", i.e., computers are cheap and abundant now.
But a structured program will take you through these things, ensure that you understand them, be available to answer questions in a manner other than "bang your head on the problem for weeks" or "just give up", and provide a structure progression through to more advanced topics.
I think it's important to keep both sides of this in mind; the universities do not have a monopoly on the knowledge and arguably it's easier than ever to pick up yourself, but that doesn't mean the structured experience is useless either. I've worked with some very good self-taught people, but they all have also tended to have gaping holes in their education relative to a good computer science education. (I agree with those people that they are much better than some people who end up with bad computer science educations. Unfortunately, if one optimizes one's computer science education for "the easiest 4.0s", one can end up with very similar gaping holes in one's formal education!)
> that doesn't mean the structured experience is useless either
It also often seems missed that somebody who went through a formal degree in lieu of gaining real-world experience can also gain real-world experience at least as easily as somebody who got the equivalent of a formal degree through real-world experience.
But a structured program will take you through these things, ensure that you understand them, be available to answer questions in a manner other than "bang your head on the problem for weeks" or "just give up", and provide a structure progression through to more advanced topics.
I think it's important to keep both sides of this in mind; the universities do not have a monopoly on the knowledge and arguably it's easier than ever to pick up yourself, but that doesn't mean the structured experience is useless either. I've worked with some very good self-taught people, but they all have also tended to have gaping holes in their education relative to a good computer science education. (I agree with those people that they are much better than some people who end up with bad computer science educations. Unfortunately, if one optimizes one's computer science education for "the easiest 4.0s", one can end up with very similar gaping holes in one's formal education!)