"you cannot predict how long that is going to take." This is perhaps a bit nitpicky, but in my experience even people who know what they're doing (in either of

"you cannot predict how long that is going to take." This is perhaps a bit nitpicky, but in my experience even people who know what they're doing (in either of these fields) cannot reliably predict how long something is going to take. But they can at least see the trailhead of the path that they need to follow, which is very important, and seems to be lacking in the OP's case.