any IT guys here, willing to answer a few questions.

[Shane@DBPerformance]

I did professional programming for 10+ years. I liked it a lot, it is the kind of thing you need some natural talent for and like to do. I went the no real college route also, I went to the U but dropped out when my programming job started paying too good and taking too much of my time well before I took any actual computer classes. Unlike networking, DBA, keeping computers running, etc it is something that often can't be just taught in a classroom, it takes some creativity, problem solving ability and you need to like it. A lot of people who like computers hate programming.