real4real

it's just a title. titles don't mean anything. I've known VPs who worked for directors and vice versa. if you work for someone and they give you the title software engineer, then i guess you're an engineer. If you work for yourself, you can give yourself whatever title you want. I like Czar of North America. Just get stuff done and/or make money. don't worry about titles or labels.

i also came out of a non-CS background. I don't recommend just looking at open source code. That would be like watching someone skiing to try to become a better skier. The only way to get better at coding is by writing code. You want to get into a situation with a more experienced programmer who can mentor you when you get stuck and review your code.