There is one way to change programming fields that almost feels like cheating and is a feature unique to startups in Silicon Valley.
Find a company doing the work you want to be doing that's currently in crazy startup staffing mode. That's how I went from writing CRUD apps to making facebook games.
I was completely unqualified for video game development, as most of my experience was with web-based CMS's in PHP, but I could solve fizzbuzz and they were desperate for programmers.
That last part is key - they wanted to launch 30 games in one year and didn't have the manpower. They grew from 30 people to 300 in one year, and 300 to 600 the next.
The downside to this is you need to be able to learn new skills and languages fast in a high stress environment. But, if you do it right, you can learn a lot in a short amount of time as well.
Find a company doing the work you want to be doing that's currently in crazy startup staffing mode. That's how I went from writing CRUD apps to making facebook games.
I was completely unqualified for video game development, as most of my experience was with web-based CMS's in PHP, but I could solve fizzbuzz and they were desperate for programmers.
That last part is key - they wanted to launch 30 games in one year and didn't have the manpower. They grew from 30 people to 300 in one year, and 300 to 600 the next.
The downside to this is you need to be able to learn new skills and languages fast in a high stress environment. But, if you do it right, you can learn a lot in a short amount of time as well.