The standard route to a junior software job paying >$100k is to attend an elite US college, major in computer science, and get very good grades. If you pull tha

The standard route to a junior software job paying >$100k is to attend an elite US college, major in computer science, and get very good grades. If you pull that off, you will have no problem getting interviews from companies that do on-campus recruiting, and your classes will probably prepare you well for the interviews. If you live in the US already and have very good high school grades and standardized test scores, you should definitely consider it. Being poor is not necessarily a deal-breaker, the elite schools tend to have very generous need-based financial aid. Please note that I'm not trying to tell you that this system is good for society or even good for the companies themselves, just telling you how it is. If you are one of the many many people for whom that path is unrealistic, there are a few other options that can get you there. The first is to find any software job you can and work it for 2-5 years, and at the same time study data structures and algorithms. Then follow the process some other people have mentioned to try to get a job at a big tech company. I would think after 2-5 years experience you can probably land a job at a not-big-tech company in the 70-80k range without much trouble. Just 6 months is not going to help much in getting your second job (if a job ends that fast, there's often something seriously wrong with either the person or that person's boss, and if I'm sifting through 200 resumes, why take a chance?), but $20/hour is hilariously low (at least in the US), almost any other programming job is going to pay much much more (again, in the US). Also, in general with job hunting, you just have to be really persistent. Well paying jobs attract hundreds of applicants, and there's a lot of luck required just to get the first interview. Finally, I'm hiring, email in profile if you want to send a resume my way.