Comment by uptownJimmy

Good advice. One thing I do know: "people skills" are as important in software as they are almost any place else. And in case it offers any perspective at all to the OP, I am working my way up from a disadvantaged place in US society, and I'm getting paid $20/hr to intern in my first programming job. I expect that to be $30/hr by the end of the year, then on from there. FWIW.