As it's my first post here - Welcome!

I'm in age in which rotation of interests is so big and time is running out.. I'd like to try my hand at IT for the very first time.

In home, I'd like to explore this area and find out whether I'm keen on in or not. The question is, how begin?

It would be awesome if there was a source of "the whole basic knowledgle" of IT, but I guess there is not

If I had to choose one specialization, I would say "programming", but I would like to taste other fields too.


To sum up, I'm looking for a source of IT knowledge (I like books, but videos are fine too, etc), which would.. perhaps not teach me the ITs basics, but rather show me how would it look like if I decided to go further into subject. I'd like to find out if I like it or not.Youtube is a great source for videos for this subject. But fact is your going to need hands on experience. You will want to have computers to disassemble and repair etc if you want to get into hardware. For software you will need to pick a language from many and have that as your main programming language and then learn others so that you can work on others source code other than your own since generally in IT if your like many in IT your having to WRITE band aids to fix problems or save a company money by writing a complete program for an accounting department for example or member services where there is a database and a front end program that INTEGRATES with that.

Programming requires strong skills in math, logic, determination, and creativity.

Depending on what type of programming you want to accomplish will mainly determine what language you will focus on. Additionally you will want it to be one that is needed in the field such as if you mastered a language that there are too many people knowledgeable to where there is little demand for that skill you might find that there is better luck with employment looking for someone who is a Ruby master programmer whereas many are Python and Perl. Additionally IT is ever changing and so you might spend a lot of time on one thing and then the need for that dissolves over time. So its best to learn as much as you can and be able to take on as many languages as you can. This might sound overwhelming, but plan on at least 5 years programming and able to bring source code with you to show your skills at an interview and be able to explain it all.

Is there a specific type of programming that interests you?

Games, Game Server/Database, Non-Game Applications, Non-Game Server/Database, Programming for Mobile Devices, Integration Programming ( making code to bridge one application or database to another ), Porting Code written for one platform hardware type to work on another, Programming for the Web ( web design ), or something else I have not listed?I haven't choosen any specific type of programming yet.
Programming for Mobile Devices seems like a good choice, but I'll have to try to find out if I enjoy it.

I guess I'll start from c++, just because it is widely POPULAR so it seems fairly "easy" to learn. If I learn some basics and enjoy it, I'll try to sample other languages and then perhaps I'll try to build my career in IT, seems lika a good plan.. does it? If I had to give one piece of advice - Do not start on C++, it is often taught as a first language but this is a really bad idea, it is very too complicated and relies on deep knowledge of how the computer is working at a very low level to do anything decent with it. As a first language you should start with something simple such as Python which handles all the low level details for you. Once you are comfortable with that you can then move onto something like C++.Another point about C++. It is used for a lot of software today but I'm of the mind that this is a case of the language/platform having developed a lot of momentum, and not any expression of the language itself being well PURPOSED for the task of writing applications.

More importantly, it is being overtaken for 90% of the things it was being used for by other platforms and languages.

For Mobile Devices, C++ won't get you anywhere. It's possible, I'm sure, but all the tooling for all the mobile platforms is not designed with it in mind.
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If I had to give one piece of advice - Do not start on C++, it is often taught as a first language but this is a really bad idea, it is very too complicated and relies on deep knowledge of how the computer is working at a very low level to do anything decent with it. As a first language you should start with something simple such as Python which handles all the low level details for you. Once you are comfortable with that you can then move onto something like C++.