[eitland]

Ridiculous just like doing anything else you don't have a passion for is ridiculous? Like paying bills? Accounting?

He wanted to start a company. That implied, in his case, learning to code.

Just like finishing my degree implied long days working to pay it (wasn't very passionate about cleaning barracks I can tell you ;-)

(Btw, I'm one of those who started coding at age 12 by picking up the c64 manual.)

[vinceguidry]

Coding is not in the same category of skills as other "things you must learn to start a business". It's a hundred times harder. I don't think, as a person who started coding at 12, that you have the perspective to appreciate that. It's a long, tortuous, winding road to building something reliable with code.

I started coding at an early age too, I didn't understand just how hard it was until I started rubbing elbows with a lot of business types and trying to show them technical stuff. The knowledge gap is so wide and gaping that yes, you need a long time immersed in technology before you can understand it enough to build with it. If you're really bright, motivated and lucky, you might manage something in 6mo to a year. And those months will be the hardest of your life.