Your Valuable Opinion Needed - Thank You

[sunandoghosh]

Hi everyone

First of all I am glad that i found this forum...I would like to humbly request all the knowledgeable people here to express their views on this........

I am an accountant by profession and completely novice to the world of computers.All i know is how to check emails, surf websites and the like.....

However, I suffered a major medical setback 2 years ago and have undergone two major operations and have been confined to hosptial and my home from last 1 year and 6 months.Full recovery is still not appearing in near future and as a result I am unable to join any job because my medical condition prevents me from joining any job outside. So as a means of
earning some income i was surfing net a lot in order to know whether there is anywork which i can do from my room at home without requiring me to go anywhere.

In the process i see that "programming" is something which seems to be very prevalent on the internet and people program on net to make living.

I was really wondering whether a complete novice like me whose main field ia accounting can make a living in programming on net. I do not say that it has to be within few days or weeks but is it possible in few months.

I would really be thankful if someone can clarify me

(1) what exactly is programming,

(2) what exactly programmers do

(3) Is it possible for completely non computer persons like me who r from different background altogether(in my case accounting) to learn it within some time

(4) if yes what exactly to learn and what we should do

(5) how much time it can take to learn

(6) And can we work online in programming to make some money for living in the long run.

I know I might have asked some stupid questions and yes sorry for so long story of mine.

Hope you knowledgeable people will help me in deciding and taking the right course of action.

Any inputs, comments, suggestions, opinions or any reference to where i can get all relevant information from a laymans perspective will be more than welcome and highly appreciated.

thanks a lot in advance

I sincerely and eagerly look forward to replies...as i really need to do something soon to sustain my living and medical expenses as i cannot be any long dependent on my parents for day to day living and full recovery appears still distant.....

and yes if i have posted in the wrong place then sorry

sunando

(if possible do email me at [e-mail])

[Narue]

>(1) what exactly is programming,
Programming consists of designing software, writing instructions in a programming language that execute steps which implement that design, testing the instructions to ensure that they work properly, and fixing any errors that occur.

>(2) what exactly programmers do
Programmers create software. :)

>(3) Is it possible for completely non computer persons like me who r from different
>background altogether(in my case accounting) to learn it within some time
Yes, people of all ages do it all the time. In fact, some of the best programmers I know personally started well after middle age from being geologists, accountants, salesman, and secretaries.

>(4) if yes what exactly to learn and what we should do
First become familiar with the basics of computing. If you know how to use a text editor and run a program then you have the basic skills required to write a program. Beyond that it's just wrapping your mind around programming concepts and learning a language.

>(5) how much time it can take to learn
Starting from scratch, a bright person can learn to program with something like Python in a matter of months. Becoming effective in any language is harder. Generally, I tell people not to expect to gain any measure of proficiency in any programming language in less than two years.

>(6) And can we work online in programming to make some money for living in the long run.
In the long run, yes. In the short run, no. To make a decent living as a freelance programmer, you need to be very good at it. I don't know any freelancers with less than ten years of experience that make a good living at it.

[sunandoghosh]

Yes, people of all ages do it all the time. In fact, some of the best programmers I know personally started well after middle age from being geologists, accountants, salesman, and secretaries.

hey buddy thanks a lot thats very very encouraging...

First become familiar with the basics of computing. If you know how to use a text editor and run a program then you have the basic skills required to write a program. Beyond that it's just wrapping your mind around programming concepts and learning a language.

I reasonably believe that atleast i know that... :p

Generally, I tell people not to expect to gain any measure of proficiency in any programming language in less than two years.

Since it can take so much time so I would like u to suggest me more one thing...

but let me give a background to what i would be looking:

i have used accounting softwares many of them infact where i used to perform many accounting and tax work in past.

What always fascinated me was the fact that how such applications are made.

furthermore, i always wanted to do so many things with the accounting and tax applications but never knew how to change it. I guess that required programming knwledge.

I have been trying to get online accounting work but i am finding it tough.

what i believe is that i require two things:

1. my own website so that i can advertise or atleast inform people that i have online presence where i can put up my resume portfolio and details of servies of accounting.

2. I also wanted to have some ability to change the standrad accounting and tax applications as available in the market to suit more customised needs as i know what exactly people want from tax and accounting packages but which are not considered many times in standard packages.

SO once again i qould request to clarify what exactly should i learn to achive the above two objectives and what should i be looking for and where.

as u said gaining proficiency in any programming language would involve at least 2 years... so please help me selecting the...

"best, most widelyused" language so that i can achieve the two objectives and be in touch with whats most prevalent.

thanks man for ur valuable inputs...

best regards,

sunando

[ShaneMcP]

In my opinion programming is not something you can pick up over night. If you have had absolutely no experience in the field, then I guess your first mission would be to get some. Take classes at a trade school, community college, anything just to get experience. A lot of people, at least that I know, started out wanting to be programmers and ended up hating all computer languages.

Luckily computer languages work in a generally similiar manner, so once you get to know one, the knowledge is not completely useless. So with that said, get to know some language and if you don't like it at all, then programming is probably not for you.

If you are looking for something easy try Visual Basic or C. HTML is a baby language but has great potential! I hope this helps somewhat, this is my first post :D. Good luck, don't give up if it seems hard at first, three years of spanish and I still can't really speak it :D.

[Narue]

>If you are looking for something easy try Visual Basic or C.
C is not easy. I've worked with C for almost a decade and I still don't consider myself an expert.

>SO once again i qould request to clarify what exactly should i learn
My advice is still the same. Learn a programming language that can do what you want. VB is a good place to start in this case, as is Python.