I'm at school for a technical subject, and I feel the same way. I'd say 80% of what I've learned is from my free time/various jobs I've worked. School only provided me with the atmosphere where I could explore these things easier. I don't think I'd be doing as much with what I learn if I didn't have access to the labs.
So, when it comes to getting a job, I don't think school has really given me any advantage over someone self educated, because I feel largely self educated anyway.
As a side note, one of my professors used to be in charge of hiring at a fairly large company and started refusing to hire (for the most part) anyone with a 4.0, claiming all the good engineers were in the 2.8/3.8 range. He found that GPA was a metric for jumping through hoops, and not engineering ability/critical thinking/creative planning etc. I agree. Of course, I'm one of those 2.8/3.8 students, but I've seen so many cases where the best in class cheats, sucks up, or memorizes the material for the test and immediately forgets it. There's actually a kid famous for being a dumbass in my school, but he's head of IEEE, and has a cushy IBM job lined up, even though nearly everyone agrees he knows nothing about his major.
So, when it comes to getting a job, I don't think school has really given me any advantage over someone self educated, because I feel largely self educated anyway.
As a side note, one of my professors used to be in charge of hiring at a fairly large company and started refusing to hire (for the most part) anyone with a 4.0, claiming all the good engineers were in the 2.8/3.8 range. He found that GPA was a metric for jumping through hoops, and not engineering ability/critical thinking/creative planning etc. I agree. Of course, I'm one of those 2.8/3.8 students, but I've seen so many cases where the best in class cheats, sucks up, or memorizes the material for the test and immediately forgets it. There's actually a kid famous for being a dumbass in my school, but he's head of IEEE, and has a cushy IBM job lined up, even though nearly everyone agrees he knows nothing about his major.