At my first professional job, the director of the company was a pathologist for 20 years. It then occurred to him that his industry could be run more efficiently so he embarked on developing his own pathology system. With no previous software background, he had his wife bootstrap his development of the system for a few years before he was able to implement it for production use. He ended up running his new software company for 12 years before he sold it for millions!

He is a prime example of someone with no software experience moving into the industry. However, I believe it worked wonderfully for him because he didn't shift from his primary industry where he held all of his domain knowledge.

Congrats if you're wanting to shift professions and industries as it is a brave move. I would suggest surrounding yourself with talented and experienced people in the software industry. There should be Ruby on Rails and web meetups in your area where you will be able to network and learn from approachable people.

All the best in your endeavours!