It's not really a matter of months/years. If you've built an application (or piece of an application) that other people use or have used, I'd say you can call yourself a programmer. (Though your skill level may still be in question.)

If you haven't built something yet, do that. If you're new to the field, having something to show off and talk about in an interview is a big win.

I am in a similar position and would like to restate the question.

If someone applied for a job, saying he was a new programmer, what would you look for to see if he was worth considering for a position?

I would recommend you hit up Craigslist and start responding to ads under Computer->Gigs. You can often find small and simple coding projects. That's how I got started building up my resume after I graduated.

I agree. I actually did the same thing.

Whether or not the person in question can actually write code.

In my experience (both hiring and being hired) no company is going to hire you for a programming position unless you can already code reasonably well. That doesn't begin to cover the full picture (ancillary tools like testing, version control, etc... as well as teamwork and time management skills, more...) but it's enough to get a foot in the door at some places.

I have been programming ever since I was a school kid, and I have worked on many small "hobby projects". But I started calling myself a programmer only after I actually started working and earning money as a programmer. I guess I am using the title as a profession more than anything else.

Personally I think it's one of those things that "you'll just know". If you're writing working code and are using those skills on an actual project, then you're a programmer...

So when did you realize you were a capable programmer?

That's definitely hard to answer.

I thought I was awesome when I was in high school (I was about 16) but a few more years of experience made me realize how wrong I was.

I'm 25 now and I think I have a good grip on the generalities of programming, but I still have a long way to go in really understanding the underlying fundamentals of various languages and some of the over-arching principles that govern language design and function. (It's worth noting that I've been a professional developer in various languages for about 4 years, and I've been programming for fun for 11 years.)

Personally I think programming is like most other things. It's relatively easy to be minimally capable, but extremely hard to be really, really capable.

Sorry for the long-winded answer :-p

I agree completely. When you've written enough code that you have confidence you can solve real-world problems, you're there. In my personal case it took just a couple of years before I could sell my code. And now I've done it for nearly 30 more years.

The best part is that you can sell your advice even before you can sell your code. That way you'll learn more about what the real world needs out of a programmer. And they'll pay you to learn!