Sadly, no. People who seem to make it work for themselves, also legitimize it for themselves by creating their own products. I'm not even aware of a programming equivalent of COMPTIA, A+, MSCE, RHCE, etc. A lot of aspects of MIS/IT can be self taught and certified independently. For the aspects that colleges are dropping the ball on for CS students... not even sure where to begin.

People generally rely on the higher education system, rather than teaching themselves. Save for certain institutions, the higher education system is decades out of the loop.