I'm in the same boat. I entered the industry while my future colleagues were entering college. At first I admit I WAS behind. I recognized this, so I taught myself Haskell immediately. That was step one. I started delving into the more theoretical aspects of computer science and as I got deeper I felt less and less insecure about my lack of a formal education.
It's like you said, you retain what you love. Knowing myself, I wouldn't have loved being spoonfed computer science in a formal setting without any real context. I've retained all of the comp sci I've taught myself and I mentally review it often because it's just so damn interesting.
I think the dichotomy isn't between formally and informally educated, but between excited and unexcited engineers.
It's like you said, you retain what you love. Knowing myself, I wouldn't have loved being spoonfed computer science in a formal setting without any real context. I've retained all of the comp sci I've taught myself and I mentally review it often because it's just so damn interesting.
I think the dichotomy isn't between formally and informally educated, but between excited and unexcited engineers.