Best way to learn programming?

Interested in advice from proffessional programmers...

I have a degree in Mathematics and have been working in the engineering field since graduation a little over a year ago. I've decided instead to pursue computer programming and I'm weighing my options as far as how to proceed. I'm basically trying to figure out if I'm better off going back for a second Bacholers degree or learning enough on my own to land an entry level job and learn from there.

I consider myself very good with computers from the consumer standpoint and there's so much info available on the web that I think I could learn just as well either way, but as of now I know only the very basics and considering the amount of work I have to put into it either way, I'm wondering if earning a degree along the way might be worth it.

So for those of you in the industry, I'd be very interested to know what types of jobs are out there for Math majors eager to learn programming and what advantage computer science majors have over someone in my current situation. Thanks in advance.

 

I find from my experience what the degree is does not really matter, its more about experience. If you have 0 experience though heading back to school for CS major is a good idea since you get to learn a variety of programming subjects, during that time I would do a lot of projects for yourself that you can show on the resume. First and most important is to decide what language or area you are going to specialize in, anybody hiring for a C# .net developer for a website probably is not gonna care that you studied C++ for 2 years. Experience is everything.

Also be careful what you put on that resume, I just got my first experience interviewing someone for a position at my office, the guy had about 10 years of SQL experience on his resume but could not tell me what the difference between a left or right join is, the more you know the better, remember ALL the basics