You're not crazy but your math is wrong. Calculate the opportunity cost of doing this in dollars. That cost is REAL. People seem to think opportunity cost is

You're not crazy but your math is wrong. Calculate the opportunity cost of doing this in dollars. That cost is REAL. People seem to think opportunity cost is an abstract concept. It isn't. Your retirement and your personal situation will be less $Oppurtunity cost. Other false assumptions I see in your thinking: 1. Underestimating the difference in competition in engineering versus PM 2. Large error in the number of years of low beginner status in programming 3. Your personality as a PM puts you at a disadvantage when trying to get technical buy in from other engineers Investigate other paths: 1. Study on the side. (If you can't do this for 6 months, you won't be able to sustain it full time either.) 2. After Work 1-on-1 face to face engineering coaching Use the money you make now to have a full time tutor who sits right next to you (I.e. they only have 1 student and thats you and you sit side by side and code) after work. I think this is a much cheaper and much more effective way to learn that isn't available even at bootcamps. You keep your optionality but you also learn more/faster than at a bootcamp. (Ping me - I'll do it for $150/hour. :)