Where do I start?

I've finally decided to put all my bets on a career in animation, I've been an artist with a fascination for the craft since mid high-school and have been on the fence on going into animation as a career ever since I graduated and right now I'm more than certain that this is what I want to do.

Issue is Idk where to start my career, I've hardly ever animated before despite understanding the core concepts and beyond browsing thousands of youtube tutorials, I don't know where to get the education for the deeper aspects of animation as a career.

How do I improve my animation? Are youtube tutorials and practice enough or is it best I take a course? How do I build a portfolio? Do jobs in animation require degrees or is an impressive portfolio enough? Should I go to an art school for this stuff, is that even necessary? Lotta questions but these are the main ones on my mind, hope some of y'all can help me out on em.