I want to give you hope but to be blunt, if your 30 an not an established coder your not going to be. I started coding when I was 11 (dumb stuff of course, but actual coding), went to university and got a CS degree, now I'm in my late 30s and I have been coding for a good ~25 years, ~12 professionally (as in day job).

You have to compete with people like me, people who enjoy coding, people who go to work then come home to work on their own stuff. It's just not going to happen. Granted you can get a more "noobish" job BUT your going to have to compete with people in their early twenties who will work longer hours, less money and complain less. And these are people that want this as a career and are willing to learn/endure considerbaly more bullshit.

I'm not saying don't go for it, but it's going to be a hard road. And if you fail, which is likely, your going to be 40 with no "life track" as you put it.

Think long and hard. Don't let the non-programmers here who are "social-hackers" and every unbelievably stupid variation of the now-ruined word "hacker" tell you that you can do it. Seriously, your against the odds here, not impossible, good ideas are VERY important, but if you cannot do them yourself don't bother.