That sounds pretty bad. Only time will tell which decision works out though. At the minute most employers won't even consider someone without a degree so it would be difficult for me to find a decent 9-5 job. University still works well for some courses too (e.g. law, medicine) but it needs to stop being presented as the only option. In schools now you are told to either pick a trade (plumber, electrician etc.) or go to University but there are other options.
I've often thought that a lot of software development as it is practiced in business is more like a traditional "trade" than not. It's about knowing how to use tools to build things.
> At the minute most employers won't even consider someone without a degree
This is actually a good thing, it's and excellent flag of someone you wouldn't want to work for! I don't have a degree in anything - I dropped out of an engineering degree in the second year and joined the marines :-). I taught myself to program and I now work in a small team in a hedge fund. In my opinion experience trumps education anywhere that's worth working - if they won't even consider someone without a degree run the other way!
Good programmers are in demand in lots of places, University degree not required at plenty of places if you have something else to show them (like a history of writing working code).
> At the minute most employers won't even consider someone without a degree so it would be difficult for me to find a decent 9-5 job.
If that's really the case, even when applying direct, then it's messed up. In interviews I've been in or conducted, someone walking in with a computer and demoing some of their creations is vastly more persuading than I-went-to-X-university-and-my-CV-claims-I'm-expert-proficiency-in-every-subject-I-completed-a-module-on.
That "someone walking in" is pre-screened by HR in many places, and won't even get invited if they don't meet the basic criteria (educational background and experience).
