I'm glad you found my comments to be helpful.
I've not really thought about it, but I'd guess that I've only been coding in C# for the past year or two, with +/- 6 months of VBA before that. The past year was my first with a new employer, and I've not really done any development at all with upgrading our entire client, server, and network environment hardware and software. That in addition to the ridiculous hours doing actual Civil design work and maintaining our network (90/10 respectively).
When I finally took others advice to start learning C#, I purchased a book by Andrew Troelsen which was easy to understand, and was very helpful to me. I did not take any programming courses back in college; I didn't even know what a LISP Defun was in Fall 2009 when I first started singing up at forums, if I am honest.
TheSwamp, particularly the highly skilled developers and mentors have been invaluable. It doesn't hurt to have an unending curiosity, and drive to become exceptional, but it's a lot easier when those mentors that I've come to so highly respect and admire are willing to take you under their wing!
Ultimately, it all comes down to you, and how much you want this new skill set; it's not for the easily bored, and often requires more of your time than you initially anticipated dedicating to it, but can also yield opportunities that you might not have otherwise been able to consider for your future.
When I was really starting to dig into .NET, I asked a lot of similar questions about seeking formal education in programming, and received a great deal of recommendations to instead just start learning on my own. Now, we each have different capabilities, and opportunities in our lives, but I can say that I've been able to nearly double my income in the past year by finding a job where this skill set is valued. I may not do much AutoCAD development these days in terms of what I post, but I do a great deal of internal development, and PowerShell these days (for client /server, and Exchange/Office 365 management)... Just a different interface, and library of keywords, a object model, etc.
Just figure out what you want to do, and intentionally set a seemingly unreachable goal... Work your arse off to get there, will yourself to overcome challenges, and make smart choices... Then come back, and let us know when you've achieved your goal. :beer:
Cheers