<prompt> Human: Long story short, I have a BA and MA in English, as well as a BS in CS as of this December that I knocked out by working non-stop for 2 and a half years. I realized after my MA that academia wasnt for me and decided to pursue an earlier interest I had in programming. Anyway, Im pushing 30 with no real work experience or internships. I think if I can put together a half-decent portfolio, however, I can make up for that and get a coding job some time in the next 6 months. My question is, how do I start catching up to my peers andor accrue as much personal wealth as reasonably possible? Im lucky in that I have no debt. However, I also have no assets and virtually no credit. Im also somewhat lucky in that I have no plans to ever date, get married, or have children, and my parents are well off enough financially that Ill never have to pay for their care. As such Im free to potentially take more significant risks and be more aggressive with whatever money I earn in the future, as no one elses livelihood is at risk besides my own. Im not averse to travel or working and living in dangerous or uncomfortable conditions. My only real goals in life are to work from home at some point as I get older, be financially independent, retire by 60, and spend my remaining years, however many those may be, collecting books. If anyone knows of any books or has any advice that might allow me to make optimum use of my unique circumstances to accomplish this goal, I would greatly appreciate it.  <response>: Honestly, step 1 is to get a job. The hardest part of a CS career is the first 2 years. A lot of people are trying to get into the industry and once youre in, its pretty demanding at first. Your goal to work from home could be achieved easily in 5 years. After you have 2-3 years of experience as a developer, start looking to jump to a company with a liberal WFH policy. Your goal to retire after a 30 year career is very doable. Just save and invest 30 of your income. 