Here's the short version of how I did it in just 5 years. I dabbled with programming in college (perl), and then did some freelance on the side after college (

Here's the short version of how I did it in just 5 years. I dabbled with programming in college (perl), and then did some freelance on the side after college (php) while working a full-time job. I quit my job in 2006 and did freelance full-time for all of 2007. During this time I built up quite a portfolio, demonstrating my skills at ajax, PHP, MySQL, etc. In 2008 I used that portfolio to land a job at a startup willing to take a chance on me. I used my experience at the startup to land a job at Internet Brands in 2009. There I was able to work on sites that had millions of uniques per month, and millions in revenue. I learned a lot about scaling, caching, and optimization there while working on Ultimate Coupons and Steve's Digicams. I used that experience to land a job at ClearChannel in 2010, where they take scaling to the extreme. Here I built Rush Limbaugh's new website basically by myself. I think the best place to start is doing freelance. Build up a portfolio that shows off what you can do, while showing people you can see a job through to completion, work with clients and their deadlines and demands, and supervise yourself. Then use that as a stepping stone to get a great full-time job if that's what you want.