I think it's great that you're doing this. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Java (although there are many, many people who like it), but I will say that the one

I think it's great that you're doing this. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Java (although there are many, many people who like it), but I will say that the one thing you can do that will give you the best odds of actually learning Java is to make an Android app. Even if you don't have an Android phone, you can build and test everything in the simulator. I firmly believe that the best (and maybe only) way to learn programming by yourself (and get good at it) is to get yourself a good book or tutorial (like this one http://pragprog.com/titles/eband3/hello-android http://pragprog.com/titles/eband3/hello-android) and set aside an entire weekend Friday-Sunday to go through the entire book (and actually type out all of the code). Next, come up with an idea of moderate complexity that you think would be fun/useful/maybe profitable (e.g. not a game, maybe a client for some web service like Twitter or Shopify) and spend a couple of weeks working on it until it works. Then you'll be a programmer! P.S. This is the method I used to learn Ruby on Rails and iPhone development, and now I do both of them for a living :)