I have an econs background too. I learned to code in my final year of uni and now do some freelancing. You are right that knowing how to program will give you special powers!
you can absolutely pick up programming on ur free time. many of the best programmers are self-taught. i recommend completing udacity cs101 and the udacity cs253 to have a strong foundation in programming and web app development. after you complete these courses i'm sure you will be confident enough to pick up a web framework tutorial like django or ruby on rails and continue from there.
consistent learning every few days for a few months will set you to mastery in a year or so. good luck with learning!
totally agree with this. learning how to market is underrated big time. i'm taking this route now by writing first, building an audience and then see how i can launch things later on