It's been a ride for sure -
Started dabbling in web development in '96 (16 years old)
Did some VB development at a bank in 2000. Started my first website (a car club) in 2000.
Got my first "real" programming job in 2002 in FoxPro.
Never held a job since that didn't require some sort of programming (was a systems administrator for 8 years but did web development there also and freelance on the side)
A job I had 3 years ago - everyone there had a college degree (I was the only one without). Every single one of them came to me for help / direction / how do I do "x" because I had the most experience.
I don't recall the last time the lack of a college degree effected me getting a job. I'm not and never will look for a job at Google or other (not my type of scene) but I can't recall not being hired because of lack of degree.
As for difficulties -
First that comes to mind is - where to start. As often asked here "how do I start learning X framework or Y language" - sometimes, the shear amount of tutorials and videos and etc... online make it hard to figure out what's good and what's garbage; what to start with (looking at you, React) and where to go once you've gotten the basics down. That said, being self taught has taught me how to search and what to search for, so these issues are usually just road bumps.
Getting your start is another PITA - finding that first job where I was actually called a "programmer" was a bit difficult. Freelance helped me a lot to accomplish that - it filled out my resume nicely. I still freelance because I like to build the random site (have an meeting today, in fact) and IMO - it's always a good idea to show extra curricular projects.
Respect by family was always a burden - Back in the day it was all - What'd you going to do without a degree? You'll never get a good job. Now a days it's - What'd you working on now and what'd you learning? And - we're so proud of you.
Remembering your roots is another thing to keep you in check. I've worked in PHP for sooooooo long. I can write it better then I can write english (and I was born in the USA, haha). After you do something in a given language for so long, it's hard to accept new things. Why use React when I can just do it in AJS / PHP?!? I don't want to learn X. I'm to old for this S**T. NO. Just, stop! I'm currently unemployed (technically, I'm still making money from my side projects) - but this is exactly the time that needs to be spent going back to roots and learn React or Swift or etc... I'm getting tired of writing in the same languages I've written in for the last decade and a half. I really want an app development job in Swift. So you need to focus, realize this industry changes monthly (weekly?) and keep at it. There are few jobs you ever stop learning something new (none come to mind), but programming is notorious for you will never stop learning.