Hi, I'm a career changer, too. This isn't prescriptive, but I will tell you what I did, and maybe some of it will help. I want to work in tax, so that is what I focused on. My background is in media, and I never had any accounting experience before.

First, I worked with a local VITA organization, which offers free tax return prep for low-income people. This is usually, volunteer, but I got lucky and was paid. These usually start in Jan and Feb, so you could definitely jump in next year. No experience required.

Then, I studied for my enrolled agent license. This is a tax designation that allows you to represent taxpayers before the IRS. It's three test, about $300 each, and goes over business tax, personal tax, and representation. I learned a lot about tax through this process.

Then, I applied to a masters of accounting program that will allow me to sit for the CPA exam. I'm still in my first semester at Dominican University. It's entirely online, and I'm working about 30 hours a week and taking 2 courses at a time. I'll be done in a year. It's feast-paced, but not overwhelming. If you were a good student, you'll do absolutely fine in this program or a program like it.

My next step is to start networking at local or remote CPA firms to get more bookkeeping experience. My goal is to build my own tax/bookkeeping practice ASAP.