Also, don't underestimate the value of an educational environment. You can spend a lot of time banging your head against the wall if you don't have an effective way to reach out for help. A mailing list or IRC channel is only useful if you have the skill and focus to compose your question coherently.
I used a book called Learn to program, by Chris Pine. There's a free version online. After that, I did some stuff on code school.
There are also people who do not do well at all in an educational environment, and the lack of one is a benefit towards learning programming for them.
All that most people are saying is the barriers to becoming a software developer vs. other professions are lower and cheaper than most others. There are still barriers and challenges, just like everything else in improving one's life.
I did misread this. Still I'm not sure this is true. Is it really the case that only in computers you're not required to have formal education to get a well placed job? That seems unlikely. I don't feel that I have enough information either way from my own experience (in computers, without a formal education in it and knowing many others lacking formal education) but it seems like an exceptional claim that there is only one field that works this way. Construction is the first other than comes to mind. It's also funny because this is one of the things we get criticized most about, the lack of professional qualification while using potentially very dangerous tools.
Computers are not dangerous of themselves, they are dangerous when you rely on them. When you screw up software it's really easy to hit the reset button at no cost. When you screw up fixing a device, it might cost you money.
Also in construction you usually need some sort of formal education for the better paying jobs. Plumbers, electricians and so on have certifications, licenses apprenticeship programs.
With software, you need a cheap computer, access to the internet and time to teach yourself. That can cost about $300 and $10/month in many places.
With almost anything else you need all of the above plus a college or other formal education. The barrier to getting any sort of college education, not to mention even getting admitted to one, is far higher. You usually need thousands per month and 20 hours/week of scheduled time to pay for the costs of college.
There are also other minimum wage jobs you can apply for with better conditions, like coffee shops, restaurants, gas stations, retail stores and so on. And in developed countries, you have the option of saving up for your computer with your minimum wage job and then going on welfare.