I am close to my 30s and still learning about programming and software engineering. Like most people who like their profession I truly believe that I should aim to improve and keep updated. One of the things I do is reading technical papers from professional publications (IEEE and ACM) but I admit there are very good bloggers out there too.

Lately I started to think (should I say realize?) that Ph. D people actually are expected to expand constantly their knowledge, but little is expected from lower classes once they know enough

This made me think that maybe having a Ph. D will help to have more... respect? but I also believe that I am already getting old for that. Futhermore I see many master and doctor programs that does not seem to add any value over hard experience and self learning.

I belive that a degree in computer science, althought not necessary, can lay out a good base for programming work. However:

What can a Ph. D. degree give you that you cannot learn on your own? (if you are not into something VERY specific and want to work in a non academic environment)