I was a mess most of my 20s. Got the cheapest, fastest BS CS degree I could from an affordable State school while working menial jobs from ~28-32 (mid-late 30s

I was a mess most of my 20s. Got the cheapest, fastest BS CS degree I could from an affordable State school while working menial jobs from ~28-32 (mid-late 30s now), had a few crap internships and have been mostly employed (at times well compensated) since--writing code and working in adjacent roles and with related skillsets (Ops type crap). I've worked with bootcampers and self-taught types too-it's 100% on the individual. The practical skills are almost entirely acquired by curiosity and experience (job related and personal experimentation). I'm new in my career, but I've done lots of interviews and I personally really like to see/hear about the latter, even casually, FWIW. With that said, make sure you have the energy in the tank to do it, and commit to it. I spent a lot of my reserve doing this and couldn't do it at this point in my life again (e.g something like a Grad Degree or Med school or a legit career change with a requisite re-skilling would be difficult for me again, if not infeasible). If you're going to do it, mentally commit, and move forward relentlessly and do not stop, stutter, or hesitate. EDIT: Frankly, if you have passion for working in "software roles" broadly and let your interest (I'm not using the silly "p" word here) carry you, you'll often find you're better in a lot of practical ways than folks just putting in the bare minimum in your average role at $AVERAGE_CORP.