If you are interested in going the route of an entrepreneur/start-up founder, an interesting place to begin would be to explore where these two fields converge.

Ask yourself questions like:

What kind of new technology could improve the world of finance?

What technological tools did you wish you (or your company) had during your career in finance?

Or you could apply your skills in finance to financing technological enterprises. Perhaps look for a job at a VC firm that focuses on tech investments. You could learn more about technological enterprises on the job there, and see where in the tech world you might like to branch out to next.

Thanks for your response. I'm not in a position right now to start a startup however. My career in finance has not allowed me to build up a substantial nest egg (curse those student loans). A VC firm also sounds impossible to get into. I'm pretty low on the totem pole at work - not exactly gordon gekko here. I do think about those two questions quite a bit actually (nothing concrete yet).

My question was a bit broader than that. There's the possibility I could sharpen back up my development skills and go the route of trying to be a software engineer. My friends in development tell me I would be good at it. If that is indeed true, what are some good ways to show the world that?

Also, what other routes are there? Coder and VC - are those it? Or are there lesser known paths?