Advice for a struggling wannabe Dev?

Gonna preface this in advance to warn I may get a bit rambley.

So basically I'm a 27 yo from the Independent Nation of Donegal, like most people on this board I imagine, I've had a passion for software, computers and anything related and am determined to make a career out of it as candidly speaking I feel like it's the only career path I have a natural aptitude for and interest in and can be proud of.

So the passion is there, however the education has been a bit of a challenge for me, my secondary school offered no computing or I.T related classes (despite having 3 fully equipped computer rooms) and there were none in the vacinity, this lead me a lot of self learning from a young age and developing a very "figure it out as I go/ poke it and see what happens" approach which I feel does have its upsides and down sides.

After school I didn't get the best L.C (lack of attention/interest more than ability) so went the YouthReach route and managed to get into NWRC in Derry but ended up dropping out due to building personal issues and the suicide of my best friend, I worked dead end jobs/Doled for a few years before getting back into I.T through ETB (SOLAS, FÁS, whatever their calling themselves for the next 5 years) on a Software Development course, the actual content of this course was surprisingly solid/diverse and gave me a good brush up and solid foundation with C#, Java, SQL, CSS/HTML and various other topics, this course actually ended with a very positive (from my perspective at least) months internship with Pramerica in Letterkenny, where I gained some experience with designing automated tests.

Unfortunately however this internship happened at the same time as Pramerica was being taken over and a hiring freeze was in place, at the time I wasn't too worried and thought I'd find work in the New Year, however the New Year only brought Covid and as I'm sure everyone remembers the shit kinda hit the fan.

I was unemployed for most of Covid and attempted to do a CompTIA+ course, while I found the course itself manageable enough my head and heart really just weren't in it trying to deal with life during the last couple of years and after dragging it out eventually let it fall by the wayside.

Recently took a turn of luck by landing a job at a local factory last August and finally got myself back on my feet, it's a basic minimum wage factory job but I'm honestly grateful and happy to have it and go into work with that attitude every day, however I also realise it's definitely not something I'll be happy doing for the rest of my life, I've gotten myself back on my feet but now it's time to start taking steps forward and building some momentum.

To this end I looked up Springboard courses after hearing about it on the radio, I found two offered by LYIT I liked the look of, Software Development and Cybersecurity (big personal interest and I see major oppertunies coming in the field both in short and long term in Ireland and abroad) however the application dates were long passed, I reached out anyway figuring "dont ask, don't get" for any help or guidance.

I received a reply today informing me that I likely wouldn't qualify regardless with my current qualifications, but pointed me towards the Full Stack Software Developer course offered by Code Institute, after looking at it however the cheapest payment plan is basically €6k up front, or various payment plans, cheapest being €355 a month for 18 months.

That's a big commitment for minimum wage so was hoping to get some feedback/perspective on whether it's worth the investment or if there's possibly better options for me? Really any kind of advice would be appreciated, I know i want to have a career in some sort of computing/tech field as it's my only passion I can really make a career out of and all I can really see myself doing but I'm just struggling to get my foot in and get the door open so any advice from anyone who's gotten through a similar situation would be particularly helpful.

TLDR: Rare endangered Nerd variety of Donegal culchie seeks to get started in I.T but has had a bunch of set backs, please help this beautiful endangered creature today by advising him on how best to develop his skills or get his foot in the door.