Getting a CS degree will open more opportunities in this industry, but this also depends on where you're applying to. For example, I'm looking at job openings in the Seattle area for "Software Engineer" positions, and about 95% of these job postings state that they require a CS degree, or the like. With being near the headquarters of Amazon and Microsoft, the competition seems fierce with pipelining college grads, and a good number of engineering openings at Microsoft and Meta are internships for PhD students. However, smaller companies may not care that you have a college degree, and they may look to see if you have prior work experience in this industry, or have graduated from a bootcamp.