It sounds kind hokey to say it, but "what gets you into developing software is... developing software". Pretty much exactly like what gets you into cooking, ma

It sounds kind hokey to say it, but "what gets you into developing software is... developing software". Pretty much exactly like what gets you into cooking, making music, gardening, building stuff around the house. You get in there, start doing it, fall flat the few few times of course... then start getting "less bad"... ... until one day, to your utter astonishment, people you never thought you could consider as equals start telling you you're actually pretty good. More specifically clients show their appreciation for your work (with money), and managers start letting you know how happy they are that they've finally found someone who gives a damn and has some idea as to how to actually do things right. There are some crucial differences between software development and the personal / creative pursuits I mentioned, of course. One is that yes, the engineering (and math) aspects of software development do matter (a lot) and you cannot just learn these through sheer grit - you have to hit the books. Another (completely orthogonal) is that matter of finding clients (or someone to hire you) - for which working on personal / pro-bono projects (as others have mentioned here). But the point I'm trying to make is -- aside from strategy, tactics (and a non-trivial amount of time with your nose buried in the books) -- what ultimately gets you "over the hump" is just getting in there and doing it. aka JFDI.