[TimSchumann]

Investing your time wisely is working at whatever you can to make however much or little money as you can right now. You can't 'go back' and wait tables for the 3.5 months you have covered right now.

Take those 3.5 months, wait tables, AND code. Trust me as someone who's done both coding and waiting tables - in all likelihood even a mediocre service industry job collecting tips will eclipse your coding income for 2/3 years - Especially in your situation.

Don't make the mistake of thinking you're 'wasting' time waiting tables, what you're doing is turning that 3.5 month cushion into a 1 year cushion by maximizing your earning potential NOW.

Probably not what you want to hear, but my 2 cents.