Universities don't teach programming, so it's not surprising you don't get applied skills out of the box with a degree.

'Good courses' are focused directly on teaching specific programming skills.

I think they are a good idea because learning programming by 'osmosis' (as you go along) can result in 'not knowing' a lot of key things, even when they are right in front of your face the whole time.

Most importantly - people who are going to take the time to specifically learn new skills, are displaying the kind of conscientiousness that you want in your talent - learning the actual skills is another benefit of that.