GitHub and Open-Source Is a Boon for the Underprivileged
I have been working productively as a systems software developer for 32 years.  I do not have a degree; I'm a high-school dropout.  I've built systems you've probably used, and/or may still be using.The #1 technical lever I have found worth exploiting, worth far more than anything a university can provide, is the willingness to get the job done.It hasn't mattered if I wrote CP/M code ISR's, PROGRESS 4GL modules, Unix daemons, Pascal, .. Java, C, C++, Objective-C, Lua, Swift, &etc. - through the thick of it all, the fact that I was willing to get the job done, no matter what, is what made the difference.On the other end of this scale, is a bit of decadence.From my particularly tainted point of view, the ideological basis of the current cultural norm of "university==well-paid job" is entirely decadent.  People seem to have expectations that, because they're in a certain class, they don't have to work hard at developing other real life issues, and too many times I've seen the well-educated, well-connected, nevertheless incompetent developer fall to pieces under pressure. I am grateful for these guys, because they make my life easier.Yet, those who are in this group, who haven't got a decadent ideal of their own worth, but rather get things done in computing, whatever it takes: great.So its really not a matter of educated-enough.  Its whether the will to perform is, through whatever means, inculcated - and then manifest by taking the actions to get the state of things, done.Some of the best developers I've ever worked with, have come from utterly dire circumstances.  Some of the worst, too.  Likewise for the privileged, candied elite.The one differentiator, truly, is the will of the individual.  Computers, being machines of will, equalise us all that way.