If you want to do it as a hobby, great, but it’s not going to buy you a Civic. If that’s what you want, do some side work in your trade and you’ll make a couple grand within a few months. This, but a bit more in a different direction. You have a resource available to you that fewer other software developers have. You have the skills, expereince, and real-time exposure to your blue collar trade. You know what problems and challenges exist in your trade, and if you improve your coding skills, you might be able to write software to address some of those. The insight you have from your day job would be very valuable. Keep in mind, you don't have to write the ultimate application that solves every problem perfectly. You just need to write something that makes a single problem slightly better. What kind of problems exist in your day job? Scheduling for yourself or your co-workers Quality checks for work completed order/delivery process for materials safety standards adherence reporting You know the problems. If you increase your coding skills, you can be someone that delivers a solution, and earn a good chunk of money doing so.