How difficult is it to start a programming career? I only have

Take an online class in penetration testing/ethical hacking. There is a good one for sale RN on Make Use Of.

>>1817834
>wanting to compete with Pajeet
Learn Excel inside and out and some report automation, and you'll make twice as much and your career won't dead end at 'senior programmer.'

>>1817834
> is there any volunteering equivalent jobs in programming where I can gain CV-worthy experience?

Pretty much any open source project. Best case they take your code. Worst case you write a helping library, fork their code, or start your own project.

If you can get the motivation to do that, you'll do alright

>>1817834
>is there any volunteering equivalent jobs in programming where I can gain CV-worthy experience?

Make stuff, duh. You can put anything in a portfolio, which you can leverage to get freelance work if need be.

Not the same as working for a company exactly, but it's not like those companies are not using the same technologies and frameworks which you'd be using.

Getting around HR is the biggest problem you'd have, and that's as simple as networking and getting directly at hiring managers.