Answer 1

12th grade? There are various opinions.

Popular Opinion: Spend a lot of money to go to University/College and have someone tell you to read a book, which you can already do yourself without having to pay someone. You get a fancy piece of paper after half a decade of wasting time. :)

Okay, maybe that's my opinion on the popular opinion.... My opinion is that you already have access to all of the resources you need to learn just about anything you want to learn. If you want to be a programmer, be resourceful, logical, and willing to solve problems. There is no reason you couldn't obtain a 4-year college education in less than a year by reading/doing what you need to yourself. You don't need someone to hold your hand and tell you what book to read. If you run into problems, you have MILLIONS of people online that will give you help, rather than being isolated to ONE person helping you, or maybe a small team of tutors.

This is what I do. Go to a University website and look at their computer science programs. It will show you exactly what classes the degree consists of. Write down the list of classes, and then you can GOOGLE the free books/resources that go along with that subject. Then just start putting it into action by practicing it. Not only are you obtaining good experience, you're doing it in a fraction of the time you would if you went to school. Don't forget your academics also, such as MATH. Math is very important to know, and just as easily accomplished online without going to school.

To put it into perspective, I'm a programmer for a corporation in a major city, and I don't have a college degree or certs. I taught myself and then I showed them what I could do, and that mattered more to them than a piece of paper that pretends to represent what you can do. Show them what you can do, and be confident in what you do, and you'll be able to accomplish anything you want.