How long until you are competent?

I'm a high school senior who is very interested in programming as a backup option for if my acceptance to music school does not happen, or happens with too little scholarship money to afford it. I'm pretty big on math, and have done a bit of Learn Python The Hard Way. I guess my question is, with or without college, how long does it seem to take until most people are able to begin programming for money?

I know it's a lifelong-learning experience, but surely there has to be a point in which you can support yourself on your work.

Well that proved to be popular.

>>9
1. It was a course being offered by a local IT company that was directed at fresh out of college kids who were interested in becoming developers. It was free of charge and offered employment immediately upon finishing the course. They cut half of the class, so passing wasn't ensured. To be fair, the people they cut stood no chance of becoming programmers in 7 weeks. They taught my college education in the first 2 weeks, after that they taught Hibernate, Spring, JSP, JSF, and some other stuff.

2. Yes, I am technically not an employee of Nationwide Insurance. I am an employee of the company in my home town, and have been contracted out to Nationwide by them.

3. Depends on what you call comfortable. Being 21, with no loans or debt, I don't need much to survive. If I can pay for food, rent, internet, and cigarettes then my life is pretty good. I walk to work, so no gas needed except for the weekends. The catch to the "free course, free job, free everything!" experience is that my initial salary is quite low. There are promises of examinations every 6 months for the first 2 years (4 in total) that will result in 10K a year raises if you pass the examination. If you do not pass, you may retake the examination at a later date at the cost of postponing your raise. My current salary is 31K.