Spend a year going through the CS curriculum for a good university. Buy the books, read them, and do all the exercises. If you find yourself looking forward to

Spend a year going through the CS curriculum for a good university. Buy the books, read them, and do all the exercises. If you find yourself looking forward to doing your nightly homework, great -- you have what it takes to be a great dev. Absent strong technical foundations, the upside as a dev is limited, and, more importantly, you won't get the super-interesting projects that you probably want. You can still get paid well, but you may find the work unfulfilling.