You have a resume that puts your knowledge further than 99% of CS graduates, myself included when I graduated it sounds like. That doesn’t mean stupid hiring managers or HR department’s understand that though. Many places will auto dump your resume without a degree. Just being realistic.

I guess the question if you love both is do you want to break for back working on cars or sit in an air conditioned office writing uninteresting code most of the time.

There’s no real reason not to go to school even already having the knowledge. You learn a lot more than just CS and those in major classes would likely be a breeze for you. And you’ll get an opportunity to learn things you probably haven’t studied in the higher level courses.

You’ll also get to actually focus on other things and take some really interesting courses along the way. You’re gonna work til you’re 60+. Take advantage of being 18 for a while before you go into the real world

I think it's difficult to get an entry level position without any sort of degree or without knowing someone.

Why not both? Robotics and autonomous systems are a large and growing niche in the CS area. Having both software experience and knowing how to wrench makes you a good candidate for a college lab doing interesting things. The caveat here is that you need to go to college because robotics is more specialized.

Source: my background is in physics and I got into my first lab because I spend a lot of my spare time trying to get a car from the 1950s with a botched everything to run.

Hey! I can answer this question! I am currently working as a master tech at a Peterbilt dealership, been with the same company for 10 years. I make close to 200k a year. I always wanted to be a programmer, but life got in the way and being a diesel tech really interested me. I've had a great and rewarding career, but a lot of my job sucks. I am a mobile service tech, I have to work in heat and cold, a lot of the work is very physically demanding, getting dirty and greasy gets old after a while. Originally my plan was to move into management but I have started to realize the industry has changed since I started and foreman/service managers are glorified paper pushers, the day of the working foreman has passed I believe. I am going to be starting a software engineering degree while I work full time, probably start sometime early 2024.

I can't tell you what career to choose, but if you have any questions about being an auto tech I can answer them!

Well, why not both? I'd say you're going to have trouble finding a full time, remote software position as an 18 year old without a degree, work experience, or internships. That's not to say it's impossible, and I certainly don't believe a CS degree is an absolute requirement as an entry credential for this industry, but it does help quite a bit. Without one you'd need to demonstrate your abilities which it certainly sounds like you're making strides towards with side projects so definitely keep that up. But it also means you'd have to network and go to career fairs to actually talk to recruiters to make your case. You'd likely find it easier to go after internships at first rather than full time positions, especially remote ones. With a few successful internships under your belt and some references from them you could more easily transition into a full time position somewhere, especially if you've continued to build up a portfolio of side projects to exhibit. In the meantime, working on cars could be a good income while moonlighting getting your software career started.

I've worked professionally as both an auto tech and a software engineer. My experience was that being an auto tech was soul sucking, and not always financially stable. Working as a software engineer has been invigorating, rewarding, and paid extremely well.

Your mileage may vary.

It sounds like you got some passion for tech, I am curious if you’re enthusiasm is greater for a trade or a more technology focused career. If you love programming, it’s not as fun having to do it full time and within a corporate environment. If you think you’ll be happier in tech long term then continue on that path. As a mechanic you can always still contribute to open source, it will just be a hobby as opposed to career. Either way, you have some tech contributions under your belt so it sounds like a matter of time till you get some bits on applications but I could be wrong. I don’t think I’ve had to apply for a job in a decade so my experience there is dated.

Software engineering might eventually become autonomous, here's a reference https://www.cnbc.com/....

This is probably the riskiest time in history to be considering software engineering as a career because of the AI arms race and the job market. I do not doubt that some cloud provider will start offering software engineering as a service to companies within the next half decade, but this is all speculation. Tech isn't the only career field that's about to get disrupted by AI, accountants, screen writers, illustrators and so many knowledge workers are at risk of being automated away.

Being a mechanic is future proof, it's actually number 4 on this list of the most future proof jobs https://www.indeed.com/.... But you'd be making half of what the median pay is for software engineers so if you worked ten years as a swe it would take you almost 20 years to make as much.

Choosing a career is one of the biggest gambles you'll make in your life, consider how much you'd need to live comfortably, in what environment you want to work in, and what kind of people you want to work with.