Seriously, a DUI is no big deal. 15 minutes in the naughty corner. So any potential employer who sees that as a barrier to employing you is probably too self-

Seriously, a DUI is no big deal. 15 minutes in the naughty corner. So any potential employer who sees that as a barrier to employing you is probably too self-righteous for a pleasant workplace. So what have you been doing since leaving school? 8+ years of doing _____ ? Becoming a developer is not easy nor quick. The bootcamps only promise otherwise because they want gullible people to hand over a bunch of money. Being a freelancer is like having several bosses, besides you would still need to be able to to deliver in order to get paid. Perhaps the best strategy is to get a job that you can do right now. Then in your free time you teach yourself a language for which there are lots of jobs in your area. Personally, I would think PHP is not a very good choice. I would suggest that JavaScript is a better choice since it is widely used on both the front-end and back-end. You can start learning it with nothing more than a good book and a recent browser with DevTools.