Your Valuable Opinion Needed - Thank You

[sunandoghosh]

Hi everyone

First of all I am glad that i found this forum...I would like to humbly request all the knowledgeable people here to express their views on this........

I am an accountant by profession and completely novice to the world of computers.All i know is how to check emails, surf websites and the like.....

However, I suffered a major medical setback 2 years ago and have undergone two major operations and have been confined to hosptial and my home from last 1 year and 6 months.Full recovery is still not appearing in near future and as a result I am unable to join any job because my medical condition prevents me from joining any job outside. So as a means of earning some income i was surfing net a lot in order to know whether there is anywork which i can do from my room at home without requiring me to go anywhere.

In the process i see that "programming" is something which seems to be very prevalent on the internet and people program on net to make living.

I was really wondering whether a complete novice like me whose main field ia accounting can make a living in programming on net. I do not say that it has to be within few days or weeks but is it possible in few months.

I would really be thankful if someone can clarify me

(1) what exactly is programming,

(2) what exactly programmers do

(3) Is it possible for completely non computer persons like me who r from different background altogether(in my case accounting) to learn it within some time

(4) if yes what exactly to learn and what we should do

(5) how much time it can take to learn

(6) And can we work online in programming to make some money for living in the long run.

I know I might have asked some stupid questions and yes sorry for so long story of mine.

Hope you knowledgeable people will help me in deciding and taking the right course of action.

Any inputs, comments, suggestions, opinions or any reference to where i can get all relevant information from a laymans perspective will be more than welcome and highly appreciated.

thanks a lot in advance

I sincerely and eagerly look forward to replies...as i really need to do something soon to sustain my living and medical expenses as i cannot be any long dependent on my parents for day to day living and full recovery appears still distant.....

and yes if i have posted in the wrong place then sorry

sunando

(if possible do email me directly at sunandoghosh@rediffmail.com)

[ADAM Web Design]

I'll give this one a shot:

1 and 2) A programmer writes a series of instructions in a specific coding format (i.e. a programming language) to a computer to be executed (i.e. programming).

3), 4) and 5) That depends partly on how tech-savvy you are. The fact that you were able to register on a forum and post is a pretty good start, but not really indicative of your full technical capabilities.

Also, don't expect to learn how to program in a few months. For starters, you'll need to learn how to properly code a web page. You can go the route of getting a FrontPage or a Dreamweaver or a similar WYSIWYG editor, but the code these editors generate tends to be bulky and inefficient. So learn it by hand.

Here's a site that's old, but still mostly accurate and will help you get started: http://www.htmlgoodies.com .

When you've learned how to construct your pages, then you can take on programming tasks. Pick a language (the two big ones right now are ASP and PHP, so you'll find the most documentation on them), and start slowly.

It took me about 2 years to learn how to do basic web programming properly, but that period was from 1998-2000 when documentation was limited on these subjects. So for you, the curve might well be a sharper and shorter one (I'd say 12-18 months.)

Please don't take the following remark as offensive, but it is apparent from your post that English is not your mother tongue. This could work against you in that, to the best of my knowledge, the vast majority of the technical documentation available is in English. Languages such as ASP and PHP are based on English as well. So your ability to read and comprehend the English language will be a factor in how good a programmer you end up becoming.

6) Yes, but it's a dogfight. The good programmers always find work. Most of the rest just bitch about how there are no jobs in IT (there are entire sections of Google Groups where people do this).

If I were you, I'd either look at trying to do your accounting work from home (it is possible) or look into something that may provide a little more short-term funds for you (e.g. affiliate marketing of products/services.)

[sunandoghosh]

hey buddy

first of all thanks a lot

ur reply very well answered most of my questions...really thanks

If I were you, I'd either look at trying to do your accounting work from home (it is possible) or look into something that may provide a little more short-term funds for you (e.g. affiliate marketing of products/services.)

very true...

I have been trying to get online accounting work but i am finding it tough.

i have used many accounting softwares many of them infact where i used to perform many accounting and tax work in past.

What always fascinated me was the fact that how such applications are made.

furthermore, i always wanted to do so many things with the accounting and tax applications but never knew how to change it. I guess that required programming knwledge.

what i believe is that i require two things for which i have time now:

1. my own website so that i can advertise or atleast inform people that i have online presence where i can put up my resume portfolio and details of servies of my accounting work.

2. I also wanted to have some ability to change the standrad accounting and tax applications as available in the market to suit more customised needs as i know what exactly people want from tax and accounting packages but which are not considered many times in standard packages.

SO once again i would request to clarify what exactly should i learn to achive the above two objectives and what should i be looking for and where.

and yes once again ur reply is really very very helpful...can't thank u enough man

regards,

sunando





[/quote]

[sunandoghosh]

hey buddy

first of all thanks a lot

ur reply very well answered most of my questions...really thanks

If I were you, I'd either look at trying to do your accounting work from home (it is possible) or look into something that may provide a little more short-term funds for you (e.g. affiliate marketing of products/services.)

very true...

I have been trying to get online accounting work but i am finding it tough.

i have used many accounting softwares many of them infact where i used to perform many accounting and tax work in past.

What always fascinated me was the fact that how such applications are made.

furthermore, i always wanted to do so many things with the accounting and tax applications but never knew how to change it. I guess that required programming knwledge.

what i believe is that i require two things for which i have time now:

1. my own website so that i can advertise or atleast inform people that i have online presence where i can put up my resume portfolio and details of servies of my accounting work.

2. I also wanted to have some ability to change the standrad accounting and tax applications as available in the market to suit more customised needs as i know what exactly people want from tax and accounting packages but which are not considered many times in standard packages.

SO once again i would request to clarify what exactly should i learn to achive the above two objectives and what should i be looking for and where.

and yes once again ur reply is really very very helpful...can't thank u enough man

regards,

sunando





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