ask your dad: would you be willing to ride a bicycle if you didn't know how? what about learning how to cook? it's not only doable, but exciting if he is able

ask your dad: would you be willing to ride a bicycle if you didn't know how? what about learning how to cook? it's not only doable, but exciting if he is able to get into in. also, i would in the first stage drop the professional from professional programming. He needs to grok what programming is at a newbie/hobby level first and needs to enjoy it before even thinking about anything professional. he also needs to understand that this is a long journey (ie it will take years to be any good and/or have someone pay him to write code). If he has the patience and determination to do it he will be successful.