The problem is that employers are incredibly insistent on a college degree (sometimes ANY college degree) as certification of basic cluefulness.
We sometimes have applications to our entry-level software developer jobs from people with two-year software development diplomas from community colleges. My manager won't even look at them. He absolutely insists on a true college degree.
This is 100% not true. My employer would have preferred that I dropped out of school after my internship to join full time rather than complete my degree. I have a handful of friends that chose to not complete school and then found jobs later. Also, there are a lot of companies (particularly startups) where recruitment does not involve dropping a stack of resumes on a managers desk. You can directly contact existing employees and propose how you'd be a good new employee or intern, and if the match is there they'll likely give you a chance.
We sometimes have applications to our entry-level software developer jobs from people with two-year software development diplomas from community colleges. My manager won't even look at them. He absolutely insists on a true college degree.