I have a degree in something entirely unrelated. Always wondering if I should bother getting a Masters in CS if I plan to stay in the field long term. Seems to only be worth it if I get into a top 5 school, and even then, it seems like a year of study might be worth more than a degree.

I disagree. Degrees matter in terms of credential signalling. I wish the world were a different way, but degrees are a signal that employers do NOT ignore no matter what the HN crowd says about autodidactic CS learning (even though I agree with them on that). Georgia Tech has a great online Master's program which many of my peers took which I think is more readily accessible.

On the anecdote train I studied fine arts and work as a dev in a FAANG. 5 years practical experience and a few months optimizing for leetcode. Nobody seemed to care about my degree and getting final rounds was easy enough.

Good fore you. Agree that practice is the key to success in programming!