[emilepetrone]

I quit my job and learned to code over the last 8 months or so. The main thing- write code everyday. A little, a lot. Just start spinning that wheel. You'll learn a bit here and there. But the big advances come after a few weeks when you piece together the little concepts.

I started with Python & Google App Engine. I would recommend this to anyone. You don't have to worry about the server and can just pay attention to actually learning a server-side language (assuming that is what you want to focus on).

Check out http://learnpythonthehardway.org/index

O'Reilly books are excellent too. If you have any questions, my email is on my profile.

Don't stop - code every day!

[mtran]

We are taking a similar leap - totally changing gears and rearranging everything to go after it. Thanks so much for the resources; I'd love to stay in touch and will check out your profile. Do you know how long this stream will be saved? Will I need to archive it myself or will I be able to access it indefinitely? (<30 days on HN and learning every day!)

[upgrayedd]

Also, check out the Ask YC Archive curated by the noble Gabriel Weinberg: www.gabrielweinberg.com/startupswiki/Ask_YC_Archive

A real treasure trove about basically everything and anything you'd be interested in for entrepreneurship, job finding, programming, school, life, ...anything.

[mtran]

Thanks so much! This one question/thread has led me to more relevant resources and "answers" than many people get during a semester in college. Will add this to my list. Thanks again!

[thesethings]

Threads are not deleted, though they can get hard to find. Definitely save the URL, but don't worry about copy and pasting the contents.

Another great HN tool is http://searchyc.com. You can search submission submission titles, comments, and get feeds for most types of things.

[mtran]

Great. I'm saving all of the links in my Evernote but am wondering if I'll be able to find people in the future through my comments/submissions/threads or if I should save them too! Thanks for your help!

[thesethings]

Yes, you can find people you've interacted with on HN by browsing Threads (top nav) and Next -> Next -> Nexting through your history. Though the URL of each deep page is not permanent, the threads/history do not disappear and you can always browse your history.

URLs of threads/parent/child comments are permanent.

[mtran]

Great info, Thanks a million!

[wmboy]

Here's the progress blog - http://www.proudn00b.com/ (mentioned in a similar thread today).

[mtran]

Just checked it out! How great - loved your "about" ... "to take control of my destiny"... are you by yourself in SF?