"Teach yourself programming in ten years" by Peter Norvig for a hard cold reality check: http://norvig.com/21-days.html Some may do impressive things in a

"Teach yourself programming in ten years" by Peter Norvig for a hard cold reality check: http://norvig.com/21-days.html Some may do impressive things in a bit less than that but I wouldn't trust anyone with less than a few years of programming (or at least education related to programming).