Breaking into the field  is sometimes difficult.
Most of the ads request  2 to 5 years of
experience.Sometimes the best way to break into the field is to do
some networking. Find others who are in the field in
your local area; and talk to them. Your local Java
Users Group can help.I started as a State
Employee five years ago (after retiring from the USAF as a
Major) earning $1400.00/month. But, it got me some
experience in the field, created some references and helped
me understand what the field required. Except for
last year, I've doubled my income almost every year.
For what I do now, I think I've reached the max. But
do the math...Epenak had some good
responses. There are some other positives and negatives. On
the postive side, I'm never bored with a technology.
As a consultant, I have to constantly learn  new
stuff. Depending upon your outlook this can be a
positive or a negative. It means that after a 10 to 11
hour day (not an 8 hour day), I have to go home and
study in the evenings or weekends JUST TO KEEP UP with
the changes. I enjoy this, but others don't... And I
do have a life - except when I'm on the road. (check
out my and other people's profile who answer  posts on
this board).If you are looking for an 8 hour
day, work  for state government or a "body shop" in
industry. Although, those are beginning to require you to
put more time  in than 8 hours a day.I prefer
being a consutant to working  for a large corporation.
Many times in a large corporation, you are hemmed in
by the "technology inertia". They don't like to
develop new stuff in house(that's what they hire
consultants for). Epenak also makes a good point
about the fact that just learning Java is not enough.
I've seen lots of bad code written by people who just
learn Java (I've written some of it). To really program
well in Java, you have to get the feel of Object
Oriented Programming. That means learning UML (Universal
Modeling Language), Object Oriented Analysis and Design...
Design Patterns and HOW to use them...As to what
makes up a programmers day... Solving problems, solving
problems, solving problems... Depending on your work
environment, this can mean solving them alone or solving them
as a group. I enjoy the "group process" but usually
wind up doing it alone. If you move up into a
Programmer/Analysit, you wind up talking a lot the the Client getting
requirements and then translating those requirements into a
design and developing and testing the code. Then,
deploying it. Then, doing it all over again.I'm not
discouraging you on getting into this field. It's rewarding, I
think it's fun. But it's not quick easy money. That
went out of the way with the fall of the Dot Coms...
and companies are more warry of those that say they
can "do Java".