Looks like you're interested in learning programming? If you want to have a trade that makes money, and also want to philosophize, I think there's a nice crossover in cryptography right now. Crypto isn't just crypto currencies, there's this whole field about how can you communicate just what you intend to with just whom you intend. How can you reach a consensus with some high number of people who don't want to cooperate? New stuff like zero knowledge proofs are the kind of technological breakthrough that will require some deep thinking about how to apply.

Here's a podcast episode that might wet your whistle about the subject matter: https://zeroknowledge.fm/217-2/

Modern day software engineering is not like the academy, but it is more like an ancient guild than a lot of professions. If you can prove your chops at it, you don't need a degree, not that a degree is a bad thing to have anyways. The closer you stay to the cutting edge of tech, the more of a meritocracy it is.