[RickJWagner]

I'll be honest-- there is a lot of stuff you have to learn. It's a high hill to climb.

But if you really love it, then the work is fun. It's certainly possible for a newbie at 34 to learn enough. That's the trick-- find something in IT that you really like, and dig into it.

I'd suggest going to a bookstore so you can peruse some programming books. Maybe you like web apps, or mobile games, or even hard-core C code. Find what you like.

The next step would be to find open source projects in this area. Study those, compile them, and eventually try to make contributions.

I think that's a good path. Good luck!