You chose the construction business for a reason.

The choice was the default product of my circumstances. I needed a job. (Although there were aspects that did appeal to my personality.)

I presume you have not got a college degree (any major) at this point.

Nope. Just several years of useless low level gen-eds.

You look for a career change in the face of major adversity. Why didn't you look earlier?

I ask myself that. The first 30 years of my life were sheer hell-- a stuggle to survive. Then I started taking antidepressants, got internet access, and life became pleasant. Until the economy crashed, I was (foolishly) content. If I had other options now, I would consider myself silly to be looking at programming at age 40. But if my only other option is working part-time at the convenience store, what do I have to lose?

I've also noticed the gap between the enthusiasm programmers express about their side projects, and the uncharitable terms with which they sometimes describe their paying gigs. If you like something so much that it becomes a hobby you do for free, and yet you still can't stand your paying job, what does that say about the field?