My first boss at my current company made 200k+ as a Director, and he didn't have a college degree. But he was really smart, an SQL wizard (relative to a lot of others), had worked at a hedge fund, and was brought in to fix a really big problem he was well suited to fix.
That said, a CS degree makes it a lot easier for someone to justify hiring you for an important job, and important jobs tend to pay the best. A degree is a credential. There are other credentials you can get (certification, reputation, tenure at an important employer, etc.) But that degree will do a lot for you as a young person with no experience to get others to trust you so you can actually earn experience and overcome that particular chicken or the egg problem.
Lack of the degree will close doors that would otherwise be open to you. It will make it harder for you to get the kind of job you want. You don't have to eat a breakfast. But you'll be worse off if you don't, and you have to eat eventually. The same goes for schooling. You'll have to learn eventually. You may as well do it in an environment that pushes you through that learning at a steady pace.
I don't have a CS degree. I have a business degree, and as a programmer, I think I'm a rarity, but that degree, along with the fact that I know Python better than most of my colleagues, made me a safe hire for my employer. That's what employers like. Low-risk, safe hires. You can do without, particularly in this environment where it is hard to hire programmers, but it will make your life a lot easier if you take the college route.
That said, a CS degree makes it a lot easier for someone to justify hiring you for an important job, and important jobs tend to pay the best. A degree is a credential. There are other credentials you can get (certification, reputation, tenure at an important employer, etc.) But that degree will do a lot for you as a young person with no experience to get others to trust you so you can actually earn experience and overcome that particular chicken or the egg problem.
Lack of the degree will close doors that would otherwise be open to you. It will make it harder for you to get the kind of job you want. You don't have to eat a breakfast. But you'll be worse off if you don't, and you have to eat eventually. The same goes for schooling. You'll have to learn eventually. You may as well do it in an environment that pushes you through that learning at a steady pace.
I don't have a CS degree. I have a business degree, and as a programmer, I think I'm a rarity, but that degree, along with the fact that I know Python better than most of my colleagues, made me a safe hire for my employer. That's what employers like. Low-risk, safe hires. You can do without, particularly in this environment where it is hard to hire programmers, but it will make your life a lot easier if you take the college route.