The saying goes that you should not take career advice from someone more than 10 years older than you. The landscape changes so fast now. Where college might have made sense just a few years ago, all bets are off now. You have to make your own decisions based on current information.
The pandemic has revealed what a racket colleges and universities are. They have no skin in the game. Students are able to saddle themselves with crippling debt (paid for by our own government by way of us taxpayers!) and pay that money to colleges in exchange for a degree that is not guaranteed to result in a high paying job. Even the side benefits of college that you mention (the college experience, networking, etc) are gone during the pandemic. Are students supposed to pay tens of thousands of dollars to take Zoom classes?
College is an easy next step for those who don’t know what they want to do in life. It’s also good for many professions (I’m glad doctors don’t jump straight to learning on the job). You are blessed because you know what you want to do, and your field lends itself well to on-the-job training while still paying well. It’s the golden age for the tech industry, take advantage!