You've got plenty of time to figure things out. And I made mistakes that you'll be able to avoid.

if you took a year to brush up on your algorithm books, and learned all the in-vogue developer buzzwords, couldn't you get some remote work?

On the internet no one knows your age.

Unless your IRC nick is OldCoder...

be prepared. make sure you that by the time your turn comes there is a network to support you.