Well it's been well over a decade since I did any programming so maybe things have changed but I have a hard time believing your Codeup story. A ged and $18,000 and they'll make you a developer in 18 weeks...sounds shady to me. Is your company some temp provider? Why would they give $50K to someone with a GED who has only completed an 18 week course and has zero experience?
A lot of my friends are programmers and I don't know of any company that doesn't require a bachelor's for a developer position.