I enjoy the discussions here (for the most part) more than the other social media options.

I've done some courses in data analysis, as well as python. I usually lose steam after self teaching after a few months though.

I've found it hard to break in without a degree.

> I've found it hard to break in without a degree.

You don't need a degree if you have substantial projects and put them on your resume. Your resume just needs to convey that you have actually done significant programming work and that you're good at it.

If you don't yet have a portfolio of projects, you can start building it now.

One option that could help with projects are udemy or similar courses. I've done a couple courses centered around a project, like this one: https://www.udemy.com/course/the-complete-react-native-and-r...

You'd probably want to personalize/customize the projects, but could be a good starting point.

Yep this. It will take a while to make some projects that you'll be happy to display publicly but this is the cheapest route to go.

The longer I am around the more I realize that pretty much every knowledge worker field or creative field is just about having a rocking public portfolio and passing the van/line/airport test: "Would you want to be stuck in a van/line/airport with this person? Are they respectful and nice?" You can break into a surprising number of industries with time, a good heart, and work samples.

Perhaps check out this thread. Might give you ideas and/or inspiration.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24670746

If you are interested in tech, but want to go a more Linux/sysadmin route vs programming, then there are definitely avenues to get a foot in the tech door that don’t require a degree, or really necessarily, any certs either. You do kinda have to really want it and love it more than the average other person though.

A datacenter or hosting NOC (*nix oriented if at all possible; most NOC tech roles will be heavily Linux) Technician can be a fairly easy in, and has the potential to take you down a good career path. The great part about this particular entry level (usually) role, vs some other entry level IT role, is that you will learn a broad swath of internet/networking/linux/DNS/hosting/ security fundamentals that can easily jumpstart you into whatever specific tech path that you discover that you are most interested. After some experience and finding that out, you can then more fine-tune what your next job/role/tech path will/should be and look like.

Good luck and I wish you the very best! Stay positive and interested and it’s going to be fine!

It might be different if you actually had a job and the whole thing was a bit more concrete... but if you don't like self-learning in general, I would highly recommend against becoming a programmer. Everything changes all the time and you have to constantly learn new technologies. On the flip side, this makes it harder to get bored since you're always learning something new.