I'm going to completely disagree with this, particularly as the OP has stated he doesn't have a high-school degree, so a college degree is likely out of reach.
I don't have a university degree, and the only times that has stopped me in an interview process is places that I likely wouldn't have wanted to work anyway. Even Google, which prefers people to have a university degree, will make an exception if they see you've got the experience and capability. This is speaking from experience, though I dropped out of the Google interview process as I needed a visa in shorter amount of time than they were going to take in making a hiring decision.
We are not disagreeing at all. I agree that if you are extremely lucky or you can prove your brilliance in other ways, then you don't need a degree. But if you are not in a position to do either of this (which I assume OP is), the easiest way to bump up your chances of getting hired is to get a 4 year degree. As you say, getting hired into google without a degree is an exception -- not the rule. If the OP can somehow sustain himself while getting a 4 year degree, I would advice doing that.
I don't have a university degree, and the only times that has stopped me in an interview process is places that I likely wouldn't have wanted to work anyway. Even Google, which prefers people to have a university degree, will make an exception if they see you've got the experience and capability. This is speaking from experience, though I dropped out of the Google interview process as I needed a visa in shorter amount of time than they were going to take in making a hiring decision.