Total Newb to programing

[Spitfire]

I use to do programing way back in the day on Basic. A lot of minor small stuff to be exact. Mainly just messing around. I was looking to go to school to take up programing. What I was interested in is how much time and work it is going to take to really learn anything useful? I've been told by a few people that it is a lot of work to learn C and C++. Can anyone help me out and tell me if this is really something for me or not?

[DJMaze]

Maybe learn Pascal/Delphi instead, it's easier.

[Valmont]

Depends on what you want to do.
For me right now MS Office is an issue, so VBA is a most excellent choice.

In general, I wouldn't focus on a single language or environment.
Here's my current combination: PHP, HTML, VBA, C# and .NET. As soon as I can find time, then I'll add ASP .NET to my repertoire.

Merely demonstrating an example.

[Spitfire]

Thank you for the replies. My next question would be I'm looking to attend school but what is better, A+ or MCSE? And which one would be a bettter choice in the job market? I hate to sit here and prob post this in the wrong forum or post asking you guys to decide for me but I'm just curious to know is all.

[DJMaze]

Well if you want to engineer on complex windows servers then choose MCSE.

If you want stable programming with less complex servers and more secure servers then take C/C++ courses so you can program for Linux.

Linux is the most powerfull, less resource intensive server solution that has proven to be better then Windows.

It just depends what you like to do.

[Valmont]

Eventually you'd want to increase your chances on the job market. MCSE should be the goal.