Start wireframing and paper prototyping.. tools like Axure will help make clickable prototypes really quickly. (Powerpoint can also do much of the same). Then get some users to work through your design and pay attention to what they’re doing (not saying). This should drive an iterative design process which makes your rethink a lot of your original design decisions. Then you’ll be learning and creating better work.

Also reach out to anyone doing this work freelance and ask to collaborate on a project they’re working on.

I think the wonderful thing about this field of work is that we are all qualified to work in it since we all use stuff. From kitchen equipment to cars to stereos to garden equipment to powertools to web sites and beyond.. we all have an opinion of what works and why.

I started in the field of UI design by building websites that did a little more than just presenting data. In fact that was a huge voyage of discovery for me since I realised quite quickly that web usability is all about data.
The whole concept that is Web 2.0 was spawned from the way we use, view and manipulate data.

The future of web usability I’m sure will see great leaps forward in how we retrieve and display our data. I think a common pitfall of budding UI designers must be to crank up Photoshop and get clever with CSS. Whilst these are important steps I think it’s worth while getting a grip of the numerous methods of playing with data before you dive headlong in to visual design.

In this sense a book on Information Architecture is probably a sound investment.

A healthy interest in Psychology is probably also useful

I started out by reading books/blogs/IxDA and getting a Master’s degree, and now I’m finding that, although those things were very valuable for personal growth, they aren’t much help for landing a UI or IxD job (at least not with my meager experience). Being able to show wireframes/mockups/etc is far more valuable than being able to talk about them — at least to most employers, it seems. =)

The program also has electives in web design and programming, so background in that is not a requirement. Since you live in Baltimore, you should make an appointment with Nancy Kaplan the program director. I’m sure she would be more than happy to discuss the options offered there.

I personally don’t think there are any starting points, in fact just about anywhere will do. Interesting and useful things happen when you connect and/or map one information onto another.

For instance, even starting with microformats will help you understand your own content and how that fits into various, already established formats and models like calendars, vcards, date/time formats, visible/invisible data, indexing, cross-referencing, relationships and so on.

I think most of the UX sub-fields is an ongoing process of learning, refining and applying the information that we gather.