> I learnt to program (in a very basic way) before doing the whole paper qualification thing.

This sort of take is disingenuous. No one needs to go to a university to learn the syntax of a programming language, or to build up from a "Hello, world" program. That's not what a university is for.

That's not software engineering either.

In the very least an engineering exposes students to a curriculum which covers the necessary topics which allow someone to be competent at an engineering discipline.

Now, being a salesman and an engineer are two separate skills,so I don't really see a problem in having a "self-taught" programmer pitching a service and a business plan. However, as a prospective customer,having an auth service rolled out by people who clearly are not auth experts... That sounds like multiple downsides bundled with barely no upside.