I am also a software engineer doing programming from last 8 years...............and it is true that this is a timeless job.....without any boundries.........but first thing you must decide yourselft that you want to become a coder (a guy with degree and can do only cut and paste the coding here and there) or a real programmer who work in this field with passion and always in mood to learn something.
Second thing if you really want to become a programmer then i will suggest you that you learn Microsoft Dot Net Technologies..........coz all microsoft Future technologies based on Dot Net..........that includes.......VB.Net, C#(Sharp).Net, C++.Net, F#.Net, ASP.Net ( not a language but technology).........but i will prefer that you learn one of them and grassp on that language....most favorits are VB.Net and C#.Net..........
Plus you also learn ASP.Net for web programming, plus HTML, CCS, JavaScript and J-Query..........and off course Microsoft SQL Server and T-SQL Programming...
Its looks like hard for a new programmer but once you have expert in above mentioned languages and technologies your future is bright you can get handsome money.............Even in Pakistan i have lot of friends in this field and they are earning average 40000 to 60000 Rs. Per month in this field.
For new commers these are really good websites to learn with their own without any teacher.......you can pay and download videos from these sites........
LearnVisualStudio.NET
SQL Server Tutorials, SQL Server 2005 Tutorials, SharePoint Tutorials and more | TrainingSpot.com
Also you can watch and dowload free videos from this link.......
Visual Basic How Do I Video Series