1. 26 is not old. Many people are just now graduating at your age. You have some advantage from prior business experience as well. 2. It depends. Can you learn

1. 26 is not old. Many people are just now graduating at your age. You have some advantage from prior business experience as well. 2. It depends. Can you learn to program without getting a degree in C.S.? I took three classes and programmed for about 500 hours before I was hire-able, let alone useful. Are you willing/able to climb that steep slope? 3. I would suggest that you start out by working on learning to program, either at your current job or in your free time. Do this for -at least- 2 months/100 hours before making any life-altering decisions. After all that...if you still want to go through with it, it's very, very difficult to learn an advanced subject exclusively in your free time after working 40 hours/week. There's good odds you'll need to either take a long chunk of time for dedicated study or get a degree.