@Phishfry:
Is that NYT article a total "Puff Piece" as it seems to promote a couple of institutions in the article.
60 minutes had a piece on TV recently about –University of Phoenix-- and its very low graduation rate and high rate of GI signups and it sounded shady. I know locally we have ITT and ECPI both hawking to the military guys and their benefits. I don't know if you get a quality education from those kind of institutions.
Any for-profit schools like that aren't going to be worth anywhere near what they cost, and could be counter-productive. Judging by threads on various tech-related sub-reddits, and discussions with my wife who's a recruiter at a Fortune 100 company, some people will throw out resumes with the likes of University of Phoenix, ITT, etc. without any serious consideration regardless of what's on it. You're better off with community college, and it's a lot cheaper. Plus it'll transfer to a regionally accredited 4 year university if that's the path you want to take.
The free online university courses available on sites like edx.org are a good alternative for getting started at least, or scenarios where you can otherwise prove your knowledge without needing a degree.
@Phishfry:
Do I really need the diploma?
It depends on the area of specialization. For OS-level programming, a Comp Sci or Comp Engineering degree will be a requirement at some places to get a foot in the door. At some companies, they put "bachelor's degree required" on job postings, but don't necessarily care what kind of degree it is - in that case they just have to be able to check that box (otherwise there are potential legal complications).
There are plenty of opportunities out there without having a degree though, if you can build the required knowledge in some other manner, and prove what you're capable of. I dropped out of college because the slow pace and classes outside my direct interests annoyed me, but learned on my own far more than I would have in finishing a degree. I held 3 different jobs with "bachelor's degree required" in the job description from age 20 through going out on my own full time here 8 years later. My wife's employer never would have hired me with that in the job description for liability reasons, but others aren't so strict on that.
Contributing to open source projects in the area of your interest is a great way to prove your knowledge. There is certainly somewhere out there that'll hire you for the type of work you're describing if you have a solid base of open source work in that area. In engineering fields like that though, you'll have a lot more options with a CS or CE degree.
Or if you can build something like you mentioned on your own, and install and support that, that's quite possibly a viable path.
