Many people in my country would say the same thing and it is definitely true in some companies, especially some of the larger ones with rigid recruitment procedures. But it's far to be true in every company. If you can exhibit a good portfolio (especially the kind of portfolio you have if you knew how to program at the time you joined college and used those years to polish those skills and build softwares instead), it may very well turn things in your favor. Think about it. What does "one year experience needed" mean? "You can achieve the regular tasks you're assigned to without being cared of". A portfolio is actually a solid way to demonstrate this capacity. Now what does "three years of experience" mean? "You matured enough to be able to properly handle a reasonable project alone, from design to implementation." Again, this is something a portfolio can demonstrate. Finally, if your portfolio allows the recruiter to look at your code and be pleased by what he sees, then you just lifted a great deal of the information asymmetry that penalizes any candidate and gave yourself a quite substantial bonus.
