I learned to program with a combination of self-learning and high school programming classes. On my own, I built programs that solved the problems of mid-90s high-schoolers: Midi Playlist managers, Leetspeak talkers, etc.
My first job was as a vendor/usher at a local movie theater. The process of daily tracking inventory was painfully tedious, slow, and error prone.
I got permission to work on a solution to this using the vending computers (486s running a DOS-based touchscreen system), and the back office computers (running WinNT), and was paid my usher rate of $6.25/hour, but I didn't care - I was excited to be being paid to program.
The program was a success and was used at my local theater for a few years after I left. I even gave free tech support for it because of all the friends I had who worked there.
That experience helped me to land an entry-level programmer/general-purpose "computer guy" position at a local startup that built attendance tracking software for schools and non-profits.
After a little over two years at the startup I quit to start my own company.
I finished my bachelor's degree about a year after starting my own thing, so all this was just without a college degree.
I've been doing my own thing for over 10 years now.
So if you love it, then work hard at solving problems, eventually someone will pay you to solve their problems. Until then, keep making things.
Timeline: started learning programming at 16, was paid a hair above minimum wage for programming at 18, first real programming job at 20, self employed at 22.
My first job was as a vendor/usher at a local movie theater. The process of daily tracking inventory was painfully tedious, slow, and error prone.
I got permission to work on a solution to this using the vending computers (486s running a DOS-based touchscreen system), and the back office computers (running WinNT), and was paid my usher rate of $6.25/hour, but I didn't care - I was excited to be being paid to program.
The program was a success and was used at my local theater for a few years after I left. I even gave free tech support for it because of all the friends I had who worked there.
That experience helped me to land an entry-level programmer/general-purpose "computer guy" position at a local startup that built attendance tracking software for schools and non-profits.
After a little over two years at the startup I quit to start my own company.
I finished my bachelor's degree about a year after starting my own thing, so all this was just without a college degree.
I've been doing my own thing for over 10 years now.
So if you love it, then work hard at solving problems, eventually someone will pay you to solve their problems. Until then, keep making things.
Timeline: started learning programming at 16, was paid a hair above minimum wage for programming at 18, first real programming job at 20, self employed at 22.