[droid151]

The older I am the less I see that as a downside. I used to tutor and do school projects for others and it became increasingly apparent that academic system just doesn't cut it for the real world. Students are expected to the things in a certain way and creative solutions are usually frowned upon. I don't say that's the case for every school/uni just ones I had a contact with (which are mainly in Europe). I just think that people who learned their craft on real-life projects tend to have a better grasp at the subject, then the ones who aced them in school.

Well said.

I found school to be extremely boring, hence I left via my own volition and have never looked back.

Exactly, what's even better is that, in IT at least, you can land a job without the education requirement if you have experience/knowlage to back it up. And with the advent of github that is not so hard to prove to employers.