Open source projects and/or contributions can be a good way in.

• Work that is publicly visible to anyone, proving what you can do
• Building a network with the people you interact with
• Learning from open source code & the people who are parts of projects

I didn’t know anything about coding when I decided to fix a small bug in my KDE system that was bugging me… I poked around, asked some questions, figured it out bit by bit… which led to contributing to KDE more, and now I am a paid KDE developer. I now literally get paid to do something I am passionate about, working on a project that I feel makes a very real impact on the world.

I highly recommend open source to help break into the field. Anyone willing to learn and put some effort in can do it, no previous experience needed. :)

New anxiety unlocked.

This sort of result makes me feel like I live in a different reality than apparently a lot of people.