First: if you have been programming since 12 you are probably above average in intelligence. If you are in the USA you should be able to go take a GED exam so t

First: if you have been programming since 12 you are probably above average in intelligence. If you are in the USA you should be able to go take a GED exam so that you have the equivalent of your high school degree. You seem well aware that you have a credibility problem. If you really have the skills that you say, it shouldn't be very difficult to whip up a website for your portfolio. The point of this site is to demonstrate to prospective clients that you can envision and create a complete site, that shows common elements of business websites, images, maps, sensible site organization and navigation, user registration, access control, cookies, forms, data capture etc. At this point you are trying to create something that impresses the average small business owner not readers of HN. Creating a portfolio site will help overcome the credibility problem but it is only a first step to finding clients. I suspect that you will initially need to find an established small company that builds sites for other local small businesses and try to become a sub-contractor to them. Freelancing to the end client at your age and lack of experience will be very hard. Here is the other thing: if your portfolio site is outstanding and shows lots of polish and skill then there are start-ups that might take a chance on hiring you.