[Beldin]

> My high school diploma wasn't good enough to get into a software engineering university in my country (the Netherlands), so I had to wait ...

I also hadn't heard of the (Dutch) Open Universiteit in 2001, but it allows anyone over 18 to start an academic study.

If you're a successful autodidact, you probably have at least a reasonable "academic attitude" - the main difference between a university and vocational training (MBO / HBO).