Road to becoming a professional software developer [closed]

Background

I am 25-year old hobbyist programmer who loves the thrill of abstraction that comes with spending long hours trying to fit all the concept pieces together to create a working program with great hopes that others find it useful. I am also quite passionate about open-source development and collaborating with like-minded individuals. This involves setting up project guidelines, workflow pipeline and organization tools as well as documenting both the code and my intentions behind the implementation.

I have a long history of coding in multiple languages but mostly prefer Java these days in which I have a couple of years worth of experience. I am without any formal education in software development or anything relating to that field of expertise. Starting this winter I plan on getting serious about my steady on and off relationship with my mistress, the queen of pragmatism who speaks only in zeroes and ones by learning Java from ground up getting a strong grasp on basic and more advanced concepts of the language itself as well as the ins and outs of object-oriented programming in general. To prove my intentions to her I have made a commitment of daily contributions on StackOverflow.

Due to economic reasons I am currently living in a foreign country (which language I do not speak)working as a street musician after a long backpacking journey across Europe. As much as I love the freedom that my lifestyle brings it is not without faults, but I don't want to bore you with my stories any more then I already have so I will get straight to the point.

Question

Taking all that I've said (including my current situation) into account and assuming I have educated myself in terms of coding to a level one would normally achieve after just finishing college what would be the best objective way to go about finding a job in the field of software development?

Read additional information section for specific details on what options I am considering and what I would be willing to do as well as the follow-up question section for more specific questions.

If you were in a situation even somewhat similar to mine please share your story and provide details on "what" and "why" affected the outcome of your quest and where you are now. If possible also provide useful references that you think might be helpful to me and others in this situation.

Help me turn my dreams into reality and thank you in advance!

Follow-up questions

• Due to a strong language barrier finding local job opportunities would prove to be quite difficult so my current thinking is that remote jobs would be better suited for me, although I am aware they are more difficult to come by. How would I go about researching my options in the area of remote work?

• I am active on Github and I try to post all of my code there which can be used as a resume of sort. What is the best way of building a portfolio that would be appealing to employers?

• I am willing to get one or more formal degrees or any type of certificate in fields that would prove useful to acquiring a job. Can you list types of degrees that have been proven to be particularly useful for someone in my situation?

Additional information

• The type of job is not a concern to me as long as my duties would primarily revolve around either designing, writing, testing or documenting code in a programming language I feel proficient in.

• The question is specific to software development so please let me know if you don't think it belongs on this site and point me in the direction where it would be appropriate to ask such a question.

Employer will want you to give them proof of proficiency. For someone out of school it is typically a diploma. When advancing in career it'll be work experience and actions done.

In your situation you'll have to choose where to invest you time to get such proof of proficiency.

You mostly nailed formal degrees and certificates. Contributing to open source software and having proof (commit on your name) can also be good to show. Setting up a public repository with simple project demonstrating your coding skills can also give you visibility.

If you have time and mean, the easiest way would probably be to get a formal degree as it is the most "classic" way to go. The other ways are mostly dependent of company process and requirement where not having a diploma can have HR drop your CV, however in the absence of a diploma any contribution or side project is an advantage against other candidates.

About the language aspect. In Europe you can land a job in some companies even not speaking the local language well on the conditions on being proficient in English and probably willing to learn the local language.