system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Do I need a university degree to become a good programmer?

Hello!

I do not have a uni degree. However, I enjoy programming and want to become better. 

Would it be best to take a 3-5 year education at an university (here in Sweden) or to learn things myself? What are the best resources to learn things that I would learn at a university? 

I have looked into a Masters degree on CS but I first have to read 4 classes before I can attend.

Can I just buy math books and CS books and read them, do projects etc? Or would it be better to get a real education? What is the best way to get a really good foundation?
gpt
You can become a good enough programmer for many companies. However, it depends on what you want to do. If you just want to program, and basically program whatever a boss tells you to program, that's fine without a CS degree. A degree, though, can help you on a lot of things. Stuff like code optimization, database query optimization, analyzing potential solutions to mathematical problems to see which is best suited, etc. is really hard to achieve without taking a degree in CS. Take that from a guy who is currently doing a PhD in Computer Science, you just get a whole different level of understanding of the underlying mathematical mechanisms when you have a degree.

There is also the added point that many companies would rather hire a guy with a degree than a guy without a degree.