We can argue this about any other field.

>For example you’re likely not getting a job straight after college without facing the company’s interview process.

We should have a bare minimum standard, not a maximum.

But colleges and universities should be good enough that graduating one means you are in a proper position and have proper knowledge and abilities to start a career. Since that is not always the case, companies do still organize their own processes.

By not graduating some recognized form of higher education in the field, you don't prove to your future employers that you might be good at what they need. You just prove that you weren't willing to do the work for a few years and that you might not have the knowledge. Some won't care as their work is simple enough and they might train you on the job, some will test you harder and some will not get you past screenings.

Another option is that the candidate has relevant work experience instead of a university degree. This is the case for a lot of candidates I’ve seen. There are a lot of factors that make Software easier to get into. For example, in physics you need to have foundational knowledge that was created 100+ years ago. Whereas software frameworks go out of fashion every 10 years or so. Of course there are many important CS foundations and design patterns, but I believe those can be absorbed by working along other experienced engineers