Comment by Desafinado

I agree with this. At some point you need to work on a hard project, with minimal support, for an extended period of time. The skills you'll learn will be indispensable. Open source can help, but it's hard to replicate being immersed in a difficult role for 40 hours per week.

The more important thing is that you have a genuine interest in the field, which should take you where you need to go. But without at least a small amount of hard software experience you'll be stuck at an intermediate level.