I think it depends on the kind of work that one does or wishes to do.
A person can probably build back office web applications to meet simple business requirements with a coding bootcamp or by being self taught. If you're trying to scale a global website or web service for hundreds of millions of users with high availability and performance, then a CS education will help. A person doesn't need a CS degree to make iOS apps, but if one is inventing new technology, like self-driving cars or autonomous delivery drones, then a CS degree will help.
I don't apply every individual thing that I learned in my CS degree; a broad education helped me understand what my strengths are, so I can focus on my strengths. Many of the fields of study have been applicable to the kinds of business problems that I tackle. The computational mathematics and statistics have been highly relevant to modeling behavior for business optimization purposes, and to the application of machine learning. I have applied many of the lessons I learned about concurrency, distributed systems, operating systems, etc., in the design of high-performance, high-availability, low latency systems. My study of cryptography and computer security has been relevant.
What's right for a student depends on them, their goals, and their financial situation. I was fortunate to have financial support in the form of scholarships and aid from my parents, and the passion to want to devour all the knowledge I could about CS. An ambitious person who desires to make the most of themselves, to work on the hardest problems, to strive to reach the top of their field, will benefit from a CS education I think. But, I agree that a degree is not required to get a job as a programmer.
I would agree with the advice that one should only pursue a degree (if it's financially taxing) if one has a life plan to enter an industry based on that degree afterward, where that industry has adequately high paying jobs. There are also other forms of success than the ones I'm describing -- one does not need to be a technologist to succeed in business.
A person can probably build back office web applications to meet simple business requirements with a coding bootcamp or by being self taught. If you're trying to scale a global website or web service for hundreds of millions of users with high availability and performance, then a CS education will help. A person doesn't need a CS degree to make iOS apps, but if one is inventing new technology, like self-driving cars or autonomous delivery drones, then a CS degree will help.
I don't apply every individual thing that I learned in my CS degree; a broad education helped me understand what my strengths are, so I can focus on my strengths. Many of the fields of study have been applicable to the kinds of business problems that I tackle. The computational mathematics and statistics have been highly relevant to modeling behavior for business optimization purposes, and to the application of machine learning. I have applied many of the lessons I learned about concurrency, distributed systems, operating systems, etc., in the design of high-performance, high-availability, low latency systems. My study of cryptography and computer security has been relevant.
What's right for a student depends on them, their goals, and their financial situation. I was fortunate to have financial support in the form of scholarships and aid from my parents, and the passion to want to devour all the knowledge I could about CS. An ambitious person who desires to make the most of themselves, to work on the hardest problems, to strive to reach the top of their field, will benefit from a CS education I think. But, I agree that a degree is not required to get a job as a programmer.
I would agree with the advice that one should only pursue a degree (if it's financially taxing) if one has a life plan to enter an industry based on that degree afterward, where that industry has adequately high paying jobs. There are also other forms of success than the ones I'm describing -- one does not need to be a technologist to succeed in business.