30 something, made all the wrong career choices - where do I go from here?

At the end of my twenties I decided to leave a low paying teaching job to try to switch into the tech sector. I went back to college and did an accelerated course (basically a fancy bootcamp, but with a nicer certificate) and landed a job before I graduated.

First couple of months on the job there was nothing specific for me to do, nor any particular learning direction that would be most beneficial so I floundered. I was stuck in tutorial hell. When asked, no one could really give me anything definite to work towards as a fresh grad. Some work came along, but it wasn't related to the bootcamp or anything I had learned up until that point. It was mostly admin work, a bit of technical stuff here and there but not enough experience in anything in particular to get another job with.

When that piece of work ended, I tried to ask about useful things to learn or a direction that would be good to specialize in but could never get a clear answer. So I got stuck in tutorial hell again.

I've now got more work closer to a proper developer/programmer but I am so ill equipped for it, I'm hunting through mountains of code that I'm not entirely sure what it does in order to find specific things. I'm not sure how to start this conversation with my manager.

I'm not sure where to go from here in terms of career progression - I don't know if I'll be able to stay at this job much longer. I thought about going back to college and filling in the gaps in my knowledge, but I'm not sure if I can risk taking that much time out of work again. Especially with the job market as it is, and my finances as they are.

I've been looking for work and learning opportunities but I've been struggling due to a combination of very specific work experience in the past and a lack of experience during my current role. I feel a bit like I've painted myself into a corner and I can't get away.

I have two questions:

Does anyone have any advice on how to start having this conversation with my manager?

Is it worth seriously considering returning to education in order to round off my knowledge?

Any advice is welcome.