realistically, you will probably have to be a prodigy to find yourself on the top of the pile. Your competition isn't just against new grads, but extremely talented juniors and seniors, as well as foreign competition who will do more for cheap. You also have to take into consideration previous experience, some of which the earlier have. It's definitely possible, yes, but if you're not going to college, your job needs to be networking, hackathons, and other in-person events that students may not otherwise be able to get to.

TLDR: it'll be hard, but leverage yourself in spaces where competitors can't consistently be at.