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Comment by CuriouslyC | Hacker News Reader

You already have domain skills, unless you hate what you're currently doing it would be a mistake to try and become a "general programmer." Try to figure out what role you can fill that integrates programming and your current domain knowledge, and develop your programming skills to move into that niche. Over time you can broaden your programming skill set, and shift into new niches.

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I've thought about this as well, but because I will need a flow of income, I thought acquiring entry level skills for a full time position and gaining experience would be a more ideal start.

Coding around journalism is something I'd want to do, but there aren't as many job openings as there are in other areas.

I feel like data driven journalism is a legitimate niche, and there's a lot of software involved in that, both in terms of analysis and presentation. D3.js was created at the New York Times, for example. If you are interested in exploring that possibility, I would suggest you emphasize learning data manipulation/analysis/visualization tools over front-end development. It's a harder route than trying to just become proficient in a web stack, and front-end work is easier to find, but it will probably be a lot more rewarding in the long run if you stick with it.

Data visualization is something I'm interested in, but there are really very few positions that look only for that where I will live.

There are many Data Analyst positions, but I'm not sure whether I'd be able to do that because the field probably requires a good foundation in math, something I lack..

I was thinking of starting with a web stack, then progress to become a full stack dev, with the aim of creating and selling niche software for the fields I know some things about in the long run.

I find it really difficult to decide on a path, given all the possible routes and my interest in a lot of areas..

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