[RESOLVED] The path to becoming a professional?

[nmadd]

Hi all,
Moving into my third month of studying programming and enjoying it as thoroughly as I have, I have begun to think that I may want to do this for a living. This is certainly a longer term goal as I have much, much more to learn before anyone would consider paying me for this. At the moment, I'm thinking about aiming for a year from now, but am not sure if that is enough time.

Anyway, excluding the fact that I'm going to need to study and practice a whole lot since that is a given, I have a couple (actually a million, but I'll make this post brief ) of questions that I hope the professionals have some opinions on.

1. The importance of a college degree in a computer related field. How important, in general, is this?
   
   1. On a side note to this, if I don't have this degree, and no previous professional programming experience, how do I prove to an employer that I can do it?
2. My age. By the time I learn enough to think I can give this a shot, I'll be the big 3-0. Do you think that matters? I'm going to be have to looking for an entry level programming job and I imagine that the employer will be looking for somebody straight out of college that the probably don't have to pay as much. What are the chances they'll want some old guy with no previous experience? I can't imagine that it is ever to late to start though?

So, I know those are pretty general questions, but they're the first two that popped into my head. But get ready for a lot more.

Any other suggestions not related to the questions above are, of course, certainly welcome! Thanks for any replies.