How to start learning to become a software developer
But, how to start?
Well first, you need to decide what type of developer you want to be. Software development is such a vast and dynamic endeavour, with always new things to learn, that you will have to choose what to focus on.
There are different areas of software development such as for web, video games, automobiles, mobile, etc.. Here's a good article about the different types of software development areas you should know.
It may likely seem to be overwhelming that you might ask: Is there no simple route?
The (not so) yellow brick road
I would say that the easiest path of entry would be web development - specifically, Frontend development. This is the area that focuses on building what the end-user interacts with, such as the buttons on a web page or the lists of Instagram photos you waste endless hours scrolling through. That article also gives you a comparison between frontend and other-end focal points.
Most important take-away
Software development is NOT EASY, and requires a decent amount of effort, dedication, and sacrifice to succeed in. My advice is write down the reason why you want to get into it in the first place, then read that writing morning and night EVERY DAY.