My question is now, how can I get a job w/o a degree and w/o knowing in depth many of the languages that are in demand right now?

The lack of a degree will make it much harder then the lacking knowledge of other languages.

I would sugguest to learn java, a language very often used in standard business applications and very similiar to C++, this will broaden the attractivity for lot of companies seeking coders. On the other hand you should continue your education, once out of school, the general education is often exchanged by really specialized education. If going to university is an option, I would recommend to target a degree.

Living in germany, we have the option to do an apprenticeship in "programming/coding" related profession. I don't know if there's something similar where you live (US I guess).

If this is no option either, you can try to get some certifications, e.g. the orcale java certifications.This can help you to get a job too.

An other option is to show off, that you are really good a coding. I had a workmate who never got a formal coding education, but wrote an emulator for an older console in his spare time, showing off his skills. For him it was the door opener.

Good luck.

Good luck.

If you live somewhere where there's not too many "interesting" software jobs available (like embedded development or whatnot), then look for an entry-level programming job aimed at new graduates (usually they target university/college graduates but if you have good C++ skills you should pass the interview okay). These jobs tend to have you focus more on software support tasks which will give you the opportunity to dabble in a bunch of different technologies; they don't expect you to know frameworks or even all the languages, just that you know how to program at least, can solve problems, can pick up stuff quickly and can interact with people, etc...

After a year or two, or when you've had enough, you can use that work experience to get to the more interesting jobs like embedded development, that are usually (but not always) not available to people with no work experience, or you might have found something you find even more interesting... it'll also give you time to think about whether it's worth moving to an area with richer programming job opportunities, and perhaps get you networked a little. It's kinda like college, except you get paid to learn stuff instead. It won't always be interesting work, but you'll be busy and the experience gained will lead you to your next, hopefully better job.

In the United States, you will NOT be able to get a "programming" job without a degree from collage -UNLESS- you have completed (successful) projects to show.

Yeah, go to your local meetups. It's the best way to find people in the software development industry and figure out what they're looking for and what gaps you may have in your knowledge base. You'll also want to expand the breadth of your programming abilities by picking up a few other languages. Sure, you don't know C# or Java, but you do know C++ and you know how to "program" which is thinking about how to create instructions for a computer to process. Programming itself should become somewhat language agnostic, and when you have to work in another language, you're asking "how do I do X in language Y?". That's an answer just a few google queries away.

The CS degree would certainly help you a lot. Don't get discouraged for not having it, let your passion for coding be what keeps you going. The degree should be more of a scrap of paper which validates that you know what you already know, but doesn't mean you can stop learning, because in the tech sector, learning new things is a constant ;)

If I were in your shoes, I'd work on getting a somewhat complicated software application finished and polished in my spare time. This would be something you can use as a portfolio item to validate that you know what the hell your doing and that you can take a software application from conception to completion and it solves a real customer problem and other people are finding value in it, and you've iterated on improving it in some ways to make it better for your end users. If you can show beautiful code and a well designed app, you're WAY ahead of a CS graduate, and an employer would be silly not to see that and give you a shot.

Second part makes no sense.

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Who would you hire - realistically .

A: person with a college degree and without significant coding projects to show.

B: person with a college degree and with significant coding projects to show.

C: person without a college degree and without significant coding projects to show.

D: person without a college degree and with significant coding projects to show.

The US tech industry has very brutal competition for jobs. In my opinion, it is a waste of time to try to try finding tech employment without any significant accomplishments - accomplishments that prove you are better than the competition that is trying take the same job opining away from you.