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.

Beginner developer here. Life story as follows:

I was an Economics major in a Memphis, TN Community College from 18 to 19. After one year, I realized that I would not be taught anything useful so I switched to "Information Technology with a focus on Application Development". That's a long way of saying that I took 2 years of programming courses with a couple HTML/database/web classes mixed in. I graduated a few days after turning 21. I then went to a 7 week "Java bootcamp" that was a 9 hour, 5 days a week crash course on how to be a professional programmer using Java. After passing the course, I was hired by Nationwide Insurance and Agribusiness in Des Moines, Iowa. I moved here 2 months ago and began my first real programming job. I will be turning 22 in 5 months.

So, for me it took 2 years with assistance from community college and a bootcamp to become a developer.