I actually have never been in college nor in 'high school'. I have attended a secondary school in germany and continued with being chef. Later I started learning to program on my own, because computers have been always fascinating to me, especially writing software. By the age of 24 I applied for a free lance job. The company I have been working for has employed me after two months and let go all other freelancers :D Now 6 years later I am team leader in the development department of AVG Technologies. However now going to RedHat to pursue new paths :)

I can second that it is not really necessary to have a degree in computer science, maths or physics or anything to get a job. If you are good and you show passion you might get a job easier than you might think :-)

A little advice to Recruiters/HR people: Stop filtering out people based on their degrees, you're missing out on good opportunities by doing so.