Seeking advice for entry into UI/UX design field

For the past few months now, I have been thinking about what I really wanted to do for a career, because being stuck at a job you hate forces to think about other thinks during the day =P I always enjoyed design and technology, so I looked into UI/UX design and it seemed like something I would like to do. The reason that I am writing this is to gain any advice/insight on how I can get a entry level job in this field. My background includes some graphics design work and I am currently learning some coding on the side, but would this be a field that I need to go back to school for? Are online courses enough to make a decent portfolio? What should I be studying first? Any and all tips are greatly appreciated.