[chamboo]

First, thanks for the specifics here, it is very helpful to someone like me who is grasping at a starting point.

Second, I so want to believe that this is true. Even if I could just make 1k/mo, my stress level would go from 9.5/10 to 0. I've been told so much by my parents that I'm a fool to pursue such a thing, that I'll fail etc... I think it's really ingrained in me that it would take nothing short of a miracle for me to succeed doing this. It doesn't seem at all rational, but I fear it for some reason.

[whichdan]

I spent most of my free time in middle and high school programming. My parents would threaten to take away the internet when I did poorly in classes, and routinely encouraged me to spend more time playing guitar instead of "wasting so much time on the computer." They meant well, but essentially discouraged me from pursuing programming.

Last month I launched a startup, which I built during my free time while working as a senior full stack web developer.

What it comes down to, like any other pursuit, is that you have to spend a LOT of time programming. But the great thing is that every 6-12 months, you'll look back and think "wow, I sucked at programming compared to now." And as soon as you know enough to build a blog from scratch, you'll be able to start taking small contract jobs. After two or three years, charging $50/hr++ is absolutely easy.

One small tip to get started: For each project, create todo.txt and todo_future.txt. The first file is a scratch pad to keep track of what you're working on this week. The second file is for keeping track of ideas you want to work on in the future. It's a great way to prevent "scope creep" or giving yourself too much work to handle.

[coryl]

If it helps, I learned to program last year. I wrote a blog post recently with a few tips:

http://coryliu.com/post/42990233356/how-i-learned-to-program...

[chamboo]

Man I want to hug you for this. I am so glad you were able to make it work. I'm just going to do it too, it can't hurt me at this point, and I felt very much the same as you. My doubts are what has kept me from actually doing it. Is there any reason you started C first before Python/Ruby? Probably a stupid question, but I don't even have a basic grasp of the differences or if it even matters. Thanks for posting this.

[coryl]

I wanted to make iOS apps, which uses primarily uses Objective-C. After a bit of trying to learn, I found that Obj-C resources weren't very good. Some suggested that I should learn C first, which is where Objective-C was based off of, so I figured I'd do that.

In terms of your choice of language, first figure out what you want to make. Web apps? Mobile apps? Desktop software? That will let you know your options for languages.