A lot of people are going to suggest either going back to school to get a CS degree, or slowly building a portfolio while you teach yourself how to code. I'm g

A lot of people are going to suggest either going back to school to get a CS degree, or slowly building a portfolio while you teach yourself how to code. I'm going to suggest a third option. If you have the money, you should attend a high profile coding bootcamp. There's no doubt in my mind that it's the fastest way to go from "intelligent non-programmer" to "salaried programmer." Graduates from bootcamps have statistically excellent outcomes - the majority of top bootcamps have 6 figure average starting salaries. Assuming you could teach yourself everything in a hyper-accelerated fashion, your first job would still likely not net you that much because the employer is taking a large risk on you. A bootcamp serves as both a school and a vetting agency - I'm willing to bet that attending a bootcamp will allow you to command 20-30k more than the amount you would have earned teaching yourself. In addition, after landing your job you'll still have time to do side projects and continue learning whatever you'd like - it's not an either-or proposition. The difference here is that you'll be making enough money to support yourself and potentially save for further education. I have multiple friends who have gone through coding bootcamps and it's been an utterly lifechanging experience in every case. If you're smart and driven, it almost seems like a no brainer.