I wasn't planning on posting, lots of great answers already in the thread, but has he considered learning Oracle DB administration, the various admin tools, and PL/SQL programming.
There is a lot of work out there managing Oracle installs, populating databases, and all the other duties associated with running Oracle instances.
There's plenty of scope for programming, and the work should be more regular hours and less stressful on the whole than an entry-level programming job.
Additionally, it should be reasonably easy to break into the field via the various certifications, and the tools and DB itself are accessible for self-directed learning.
There is a lot of work out there managing Oracle installs, populating databases, and all the other duties associated with running Oracle instances.
There's plenty of scope for programming, and the work should be more regular hours and less stressful on the whole than an entry-level programming job.
Additionally, it should be reasonably easy to break into the field via the various certifications, and the tools and DB itself are accessible for self-directed learning.