When it comes to learning, passion is essential. Because if you have passion you have the boundless energy you need to overcome the challenges you will face in becoming a self-taught engineer. Formal education is not a requirement any more, all you need is a curious mind and passion for learning. This is why self taught engineers often deliver the best results. This is why a lot of tech companies these days choose to reject people with an engineering degree and ten years of experience, and instead hire those that are either fresh graduates or those with no formal engineering education, as long as they are passionate about their field.
Here are some reasons why companies may prefer to hire self taught engineers:
1.) They aren’t in it for the money

In the tech business, a lot of difficult problems occur. These problems are often tackled by passionate engineers working in their company’s purely because those people love to be challenged. They don’t care how much work they have to do and how many hours they have to put in to finish the project. They are thirsty for knowledge and they believe that whatever frustration their work gives them will be outweighed by the new things they learn along the way.
Engineers often give away free resources online. Many of them are self taught software engineers. They share their work with others to give back to the community, as they have gained so much from it themselves. One of the best websites to access free online programming resources from professionals is Livecoding.tv. Here, you can watch experienced engineers code products live. You can chat with them as they tackle real problems, and work on real projects.
Another great site is thenewboston. This website is also founded by a self taught programmer named Bucky Roberts. This website offers free educational materials such as programming videos, science subject videos, math and many more. The site offers a great user experience. You can even watch the videos without signing up.
2.) They Don’t Require Much Supervision

With programmers, less is more. These kinds of people or engineers believe they know what they are doing and they have high self confidence. When problems occur, they usually don’t complain, because it’s their chance to learn something new. They become an expert at what they do because they embrace failure positively.

Complete article: https://medium.com/@livecodingtv/10-...06f#.be8oej84m