Same goes for other more common disciplines too, especially the engineering disciplines. How many people were building bridges, designing buildings, or creating CPUs before their formal education?

The engineering-ish side of CS (programming) is far more similar to the sciences (physics, chemistry) or mathematics than other engineering disciplines are because anyone with drive can and does delve into it without the help/permission of formal educators.

This is to say nothing of the fact that real CS is a branch of mathematics...