Yes you do get a few people who rant on that you need all the kit. Saying that I've a SLT, a few lenses, a good few Cokin filters and a carbon fibre tripod. To be honest though all I really use is a 18-200. It's very rare I use the tripod and the cokin where a recent purchase. It's no where near thousands but I get decent results from time to time.
I've never taken a course, I've barely read the manual. All I do is snap away, I try to frame the shot, but even that goes wrong at times. I've learnt more snapping away and changing settings. Best advice is to get out snap away and see what works.
I've a friend who's a pro and he's liked a few of my shots. I've had friends say I should enter some in competitions. One of my friends has one hanging at home and has been asked loads of times about it. But competitions are not some thing that bothers me, I take them for myself I took a load at my mates wedding and they loved them, they were all natural shots, nothing set up.
I'm rubbish at close up and still life, I need to invest in a decent flash for that. But what I enjoy is landscape. Here's a few
https://www.flickr.com/photos/59322050@N04/
Another one you'll get is Photoshop. I have photoshop but I only ever use it for cropping. Seems to me like it's cheating.