My son who has is married with two small children has decided that he needs a change of career, and is considering getting into programming. He would do well in the field, I am certain, but I am uncertain how to advise him with regards to a lengthy course of schooling, or just try to learn 'on the job", so to speak.

I suspect that if he doesn't ultimately get at least an associate degree in program (like his old man), that his job possibilities are going to be very constrained. This isn't the Dot-Com Bubble, after all, when they'd hire you if you could spell c-o-m-p-u-t-e-r because they needed bodies and the ability to fog a mirror wasn't quite enough.

Should he go for a full program at the university, a two-year program (he already has a 2-year degree in video production, so he's got the general ed requirements whipped), or does anyone think self-study alone might be enough? To get started, anyway.

I started back in 1987 with COBOL and a 2-year degree, which seemed the minimum at the time, but perhaps things are different now?