@chbartist I agree with your idea of self educating and keeping up to the current trend but I believe other things need to be considered too.

Life nowadays first involves being able to provide for personal needs first before wants and this involves making money. You could be successful without a degree quite alright but when you look at most developing and third world countries, a degree is very necessary to surviving. Business as a whole, I call a risk. You either profit or you loose and shouldn't be something someone totally depends on.

I rather see things like this, if you can get a good formal education please do, don't lay all your eggs in it, find something else to occupy yourself and earn from as you wait for the formal degree to pay well. Self education should be with the aim of improving your knowledge in areas of interest or where formal education didn't give insight on.