!rant
So I've come to a crossroads and I'm trying to work out what the best way forward is and I have a question for y'all.
Is a university degree still worth it in this field? Should I go for it and get my degree or spend that time learning myself? How does this effect getting a job? And if you could go back, what would you do.
Thanks in advance.

If you are able to work and get paid as a developer, without a university degree, then go right ahead! Learn for yourself only what you need, and only when you really feel like you're missing some university courses later down the line, go take them.

Kids do university more for show. It's WAAAY simpler than the work they'd be doing afterwards. But if you look at the people that join the university while having some years of experience working, it's a completely different picture - they ask better questions, squeeze all the knowledge they can get, and when it comes to final projects, they often go beyond what kids go for when doing postgraduate degrees.

It would be great if people could go to universities only when they actually needed it.

But unfortunately only around half of the people are able to learn without a university, and most employers just don't even look at people without work experience and university degree.

In the States? Probably not with it. Plenty of jobs on background blind places like triplebyte and code fights. But you will eventually hit a pay ceiling and will probably be passed over for leadership positions. But you have more money to invest in index funds and such and you can save more earlier and retire sooner.

@AndSoWeCode hey dude. Just wanted to get back to you and say thanks for the advice, I think you were the only person to say I should go ahead and start working if I could so I set out to look for a job, I'm one month in as a full stack web dev and I couldn't be happier. You words motivated me to this point and for that I am thankful. You're a legend dude <3

@chzbgr wow :) I'm really happy for you!