Let me tell a little about what happens to me. After 4 years in my first job programming, I got burned about it, so I changed to be a consultant for a year and having my own non-tech business (a shop) for two. Then I came back to programming, after being for three years (late twenties) without doing programming stuff... And it was a successful comeback, as I got back with passion, and learned a lot in a few amount of time, so I really catch up, in terms of career, with friends that started at the same time, and never quit programming.
The great thing about coding is that you can show how good (or bad) you are relatively easy (compared with other fields). There is also a real shortage of coders right now. If you are good, and you like to code, you can catch up and stand up over a lot of people that has been doing one year, ten times.
I'd say that one thing you can to do is show up your code (through open source, etc), extra bonus points if you do something that is useful, and whenever someone asks you you can say: "Do you know X? I did that" ;-)
The great thing about coding is that you can show how good (or bad) you are relatively easy (compared with other fields). There is also a real shortage of coders right now. If you are good, and you like to code, you can catch up and stand up over a lot of people that has been doing one year, ten times.
I'd say that one thing you can to do is show up your code (through open source, etc), extra bonus points if you do something that is useful, and whenever someone asks you you can say: "Do you know X? I did that" ;-)