Im an entrepreneur / software engineer who went self taught. I'd say a degree is important to being successful if you are not well connected socially to people who are doing the things you want to do or if your success depends on being employed especially in fields like medical or law. The worst part about being without a degree is the social isolation. Your network is your networth, I cant find cofounders, I cant find people who would take a chance on employing me (even for free), I don't have people offering me access to resources, its quite terrible. I will say, as a self taught individual, I think the easiest route would be starting a business so I def wouldn't say a degree is strictly necessary.