[AnimalMuppet]

Look around your lab. What problems do you have that software could solve? (It could be as simple as a spreadsheet.) Can you build that? If you can't, can you realistically learn until you can?

Then go build it. Congratulations, now you have experience.

Look around some more. What else do they need? Do you have to learn in order to be able to build that? Given that you've done one thing already, can it become your job to do the next thing?

You don't have to make a clean break, go to school or bootcamp, and get a whole new job. You can start just by becoming the "software tools" person where you are. Then, when you are ready for a new job, you've got a track record, not just a certificate from a bootcamp. Even better, you got paid to get there, rather than paying to get there. Downside: It took longer.

[patch_collector]

This was my path -- I didn't know anything about code, but had a problem at work that could be solved if I learned a bit. So I did. Then kept doing it -- finding problems, learning how to solve them, and then coding solutions. Eventually I built a tool that I spun into it's own company, and leveraged that experience to get interviews and eventually offers from large tech companies.

I did have to do a lot of extra prep at the end, to learn the stuff necessary to pass coding interviews (which is it's own skill set, separate from knowing how to create a working tool), but the end result is getting into tech at a similar age to OP.