how long does it take?

"Klaus H. Probst" <kprobst@vbbox.com> wrote:
>Hi Jim,
>
>> Could you then also tell me, what specifically should I learn to get
>there
>> as quickly as possible(learning a language like C/C++, etc., it seems
>would
>> be impractical at my age(58)as it would involve much time and intensive
>devotion
>> to learning and practising to acquire any marketable skills.
>
>If you have no or little programming skills I'd recommend you learn at least
>basic C++. Every OO or semi-OO language in the planet has its roots on C++
>(no flames, please, I'm talking about modern ones). A jump from C++ to
>anything else will seem almost childish, assuming you are actually good
at
>it. It's always better to start from the top and work your way down :-)
>Pascal, VB, Java, Eiffel and every other scripting language out there is
far
>simpler than C++.
>
>> So, what specifically should I learn(excuse the long digression above)to
>> be able to develop and market web pages at a respectable level - even
just
>> to maintain existing sites or pages. And, approximately how long would
>you
>> say, might it take me to get to this level.
>
>Once you get down with C++, I expect it will take you anywhere from six
>months to a year to become acceptably proficient. It really depends on how
>much you're willing to give to get there and how well you grasp basic
>programming concepts right from the start.
>
>BTW, I'm suggesting something along the lines of what I did nine years ago
>when I got started with programming. I got my feet wet with C, but I wish
it
>would have been C++.
>
>.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>Klaus H. Probst, MVP
> http://www.vbbox.com/
> http://www.mvps.org/ccrp/
>
Thanks Klaus, sounds like solid advice!
.. .Much appreciated.
- Jim
>
>

"Jim" <lynch@lightspeed.net> wrote in message
news:39c4f9e7$1@news.dev-archive.com...
>
> This may be a difficult question to answer in a specific way, but, could
anyone
> tell me...how fast could I become capable of developing web sites & pages
> to where I can earn at least some part time income(I am retiring soon from
> a job in a completely unrelated field). I feel the skills and therefore
> final product would have to be above that which is possible these days on
> the Geocities and other sites that have free page setup and html
converters.

Well, first of all you have to decide who your customers will be.

A corporate customer will demand a site that requires more programming
skills (typically such a web site is driven by a database in the back end).
Learning to build corporate sites is quite a job. For example if you decide
to use Microsoft technologies (not the only choice of course) you need to
learn say ASP, ADO, COM/DCOM/COM+, SQL, VB, VBScript, MTS. You'll need to
read 1 or 2 books for each of the acronyms I've used.

A home/small business customer will require far less complex sites. You
could study a tool such as FrontPage and be able to deliver much better web
sites than Geocities. A couple of months would suffice, I'd think. But
another challenge may be to find enough customers.

<Pierre/>