Your opinion on self-taught programmers?

[Akarin]

Two weeks ago, I wrote a little post on my personal blog titled "Self-taught vs formal education in programming". You can find it here: http://bit.ly/12131O7

To my surprise, the stats of my blog exploded. Even though I didn't get many comments, I received quite a few e-mails asking me how to become a self-taught programmer. Today, I posted what I think is a very valid path, for anyone with the drive and passion, to learn: http://bit.ly/1246qMU

I am very interested to know what's your take when it comes to self-taught coders. Are you one of those? Have you hired one? Do you think self-taught ones are not as good as those with a formal education?

 

[Plutonius]

It depends if they actually read and understood books on the subject or if they just learned by coding. Anyone can write code but the best programmers follow good coding practices and have a good knowledge of data structures. Like anything else in life, you are only as good as the effort you put into it.

 

[mobilehaathi]

Well, to a large extent I'm a self-taught programmer, so my opinion is quite good.

 

[thekingofnerds]

Self Taught

I'm self taught. Originally learned when I was about 9, and been doing it as a career since I was 17.

I think the key is, regardless of whether or not someone has a degree or is self taught, you need to get a coder who isn't lazy and who is loyal (doesn't change jobs every 3 months). Loyalty is key and is an attribute that has gone missing in recent years, especially in the tech field.