Thats weird - I've been using PayPal for years with Namecheap Perhaps try loading your wallet first and then paying from your balance. (Not ideal i know, but it may work)
Oh and pick something that interests you and make a personal project out of it, use this as your portfolio - extra credit if it solves a real world problem and you can get this across in an interview, a programmer with business sense is worth a lot more than one without ( to me anyway )
Personally I’d go with JavaScript, easy to learn ( lots of online courses ) and if you learn something like react / angular you will be pretty well sought after.
Source: I’ve been a web dev / CTO for the past 15 years and this is what I really need right now.
Your likely going to be working on webapps and not desktop apps though.