In the end it is about where you go and what you study and after that who you know. The rest will be making coffee and playing with efficincy models for the stockroom inventory, wouldn't matter if you have a masters at age 21 or a bachelors at age 30.
The real world has a nice way of evening things out. You will have Stanford grads with MBA's that choke during a presenation and you will have International Business (whatever that is) students from Okaloka College with accelerated masters degrees who become head of operations. But in the end, the one with the right pedigree has a greaer chance of success.
Yeah, a classfellow of mine in alevels, who started his engineering the same time as me in imperial college london completed his bachelors in 3 years and then a combined masters in another year, and in 4 years hes done. But then again, even at the bachelors level I know more than him, because I took more courses in that extra year and my 2 year master (which I hope to do in DSP) should make me a better DSP expert than someone who has done DSP work for just an year.
Age doesn't matter; it is the level of expertise and the skills that help you in the real world. I don't think a recruiter/employer will honor anyone with even 1% pay raise when it come to knowing whether some one completed his/her high school and/or education earlier or later.
2:
The educational systems and the standard of education are very different across the world. Even two courses taught in the same school have a different level of difficulty so we can not say for sure "since someone has completed x numbers of years in xyz place then it is equal to t degree at abc."
3:
It is a good idea to learn when the learning is offered rather than skipping and finding an easy way out of learning process.
It is said, "The real learning begins when you graduate." At least, I find it true for an engineering major ... so take your time and get the right skills while you can.
4:
The time it takes to complete a degree completely depends on the program, standard of education, and how straightforward their policies, course offering, and degree requirements are.
Note: This message is not intended to offend any individual but to give a general perspective