I've been programming professionally for about 8 years, and I'm self-taught.

To be honest, I've found that my degree carrying co-workers fall way short in the basics. Perhaps it's just me, but my background in languages went something like this: GW-BASIC -> QBASIC -> ASM -> C -> C++ -> PHP -> JS --> Python -> Erlang -> Ruby -> C# -> Clojure. So for me, programming in C meant that I had to understand linked lists and sort algorithms.

I've sat in in interviews before and asked candidates (with degrees and experience) the difference between a dictionary, a hash-set and a list, and I just get blank stares.

So no, I think it's more about the desire to learn. If you have a true interest in Software Engineering, you'll teach these basics to yourself. If not, then not even college will help you.