I have a similar experience to yours; programmed from a young age, did several personal and freelance projects, etc. It was hard for people to even consider my

I have a similar experience to yours; programmed from a young age, did several personal and freelance projects, etc. It was hard for people to even consider my CV until I shifted focus towards those projects and freelance jobs. Still, the job search wasn’t successful until one person decided to “just give me a chance”. His point of view, which I completely agree with, was that even with a lot of programming experience, he can’t be sure that I’d like working in the software industry. Fortunately I didn’t mind the process and the rest is history. If I had to do it over again I would first figure out how software engineers really do work, that is learn the different team configurations, how engineers collaborate with each other and product people, the different frameworks used (like agile, XP, plan-build-release, etc.). Then if you decide you still like it, either try to connect your past work experience with this way of working, or try to acquire such experience as others have recommended (contractor work, open source contributor, consultancy work, etc.).