Yo DA! Nice to hear from you again man.
Some rather fascinating things in that rant, haha. Don't worry too much about the 'where will my degree get me' thing. You'd be surprised where people end up even with a very particular diploma. People with a masters in history becoming communications experts, industrial engineers becoming translators, ppl with no degree at all become managers...it's all there.
But try to get something resembling a degree, just in case.
And yeah, never put your neck on the line for others. Not if you're gonna be on the frontline yourself anyway. Try to pull the strings from behind and try to sail in between the conflicts between morons to a path that leads you to max profit. To quote PKD: 'Be humble, and you will escape the jealousy of the great'.
Are you that small? I thought you were Dutch?