Way after starting to work, I started digging in most CS topics and I'll just plainly say that: I …

Firstly, congratulations (seriously) on your efforts. Firstly for getting a degree in chemistry (not easy) and secondly for a rigorous approach to self-improvement. I would however suggest that you are not a prototype for self-taught programmers, much less self-taught programmers with no other degree (and thus no exposure to academic rigor.) Of course the OP might be as advanced as you are, but its fair to suggest they likely aren't. Personally I learned to program as a child, and then did a comp sci degree. And I got a lot of value from that which I've used through my career. Of course (these days) there are lots of resources online so the OP could learn everything he needs "self taught", but degree programs formalize this, and give you a degree at the end of it. (And formal degrees are still a valuable hiring filter.)

I hear this refrain quite a bit: "But what have YOU retained?" and it almost comes across as weirdly accusatory. I can't speak to everyone's experience, but since we're tossing out anecdotal evidence, I've also acted in the role of interviewing applicants for software engineering positions (granted this was over a decade ago). Occasionally we'd discuss CS topics just to get a feel for the applicant and most of the applicants with BS/MS in computer science knew their stuff. I mean if you aren't retaining a majority of what you spent 4 damn years studying then what was the point? I don't claim to have an eidetic memory but I recall the theory/application of most of what I studied in university. A few months ago, I had to whip out the Taylor series for a particular problem and I pretty much hadn't touched the concept since taking Calc 2. It also seems like you along with a number of people …

You know more than fresh graduates, but fresh graduates don’t absorb 100% of the material being taught — more like 50% at best, and many promptly forget that knowledge after taking the final. As someone who went back to school after about five years in SWE industry, I did (and still am) learning things in CS classes. Granted I did know a lot of the material already, and I do go to Berkeley which has a comprehensive CS program, so YMMV. My main point is to not compare your knowledge to fresh grads knowledge to determine what they are taught.