What???
It is incredibly stressful environment cuz if you fail then youll have to spend more time (so less vacations), maybe even pay some $$ or at worst have to take course again
There is time to learn that your habits need to be changed in order to be successful in the long-term.
There is more support for investigating things that you think are worth investigating, and there can be positive reinforcement that some people find meaningful (e.g., repsect for presenting at student conferences) instead of "just" a paycheck.
University certainly provides a way to establish your credibility and build a portfolio that can be broader than $dayjob gives you the opportunity to do.
At the university there is very easy access to people with a very broad skill set. No need to beg HR to allow you to hire an ML specialist... just go down the hall and talk to Professor X.
It's not perfect, and not everyone makes as much of it as they could, but there are big plusses to the university system.
In my world there was always lack of time cuz other courses wanted their important^tm projects too, so instead of deep dive into fancy topics that was just pass and move on and learn it yourself
In hs i liked math, in higher edu institution i had no time for it
But ive been working full time almost whole time
The power of a university education is on several levels. One is the community of peers that you are part of. Second is the ability to learn what you need to and to learn what the limits of your knowledge are. Tech changes quickly and no university syllabus will ever be fully up to date. Besides, that is never their goal. Third is to to provide a safe environment to try and fail. Finally, a university degree is a basic filter. Completing a degree shows an ability to learn new things, be tested and demonstrate a decent understanding. You may fault the methods or the result but the process is effective and no, bootcamps or community work are not a substitute.
A university is not all about research but research is an extremely important skill to have. it manifests in ways that you may not imagine at the time.