I've been a programmer for something close to 12 years (disclaimer: started in childhood). What you're trying to do _is_ realistic but not necessarily what you want.
What do you want to do?
1. Build a website? Use a theme, WordPress, Ghost, host it for free on Github.
2. Add feature X to your site? Memberstack, Stripe, Zapier, etc.
3. Do any other X? Is there a no-code Y that lets you get the same or similar result quickly? If yes, use it.
Learning to code is probably not ideal because it will be a long time before you achieve sufficient competence to build something good and even longer before you build it. Then assuming you went through all the hoops, travelled many deserts of desertion and you're now a proficient coder with your website online... what's the chance you were right?
You do gain some benefits: you have a marketable skill that will let you find a well-paid job and you can proceed to build your next project. Which will again take a long time if you want to do it yourself so you run into the same problem. Rinse and repeat.
Generally, custom = expensive + needs a lot of time. Remember you will still need to do other things: marketing, sales, strategy, customer support (if you've got any), and so on.
This very thing has been my exact problem trying to switch from writing code to building a business. The natural tendency was to use that skill and build something over several months. I repeated this several times and failed several times. This is not the way because you do not get any feedback until your product is done. Months of effort for naught and you get the worst type of failure - one that requires a lot of resources but gives very little in feedback and information of what _would_ work.
That said it's probably worth learning some coding (say, Python or JavaScript, HTML, CSS aka the Web stuff) just so you're not completely green and can find your way around.
You also do see tech guys write stuff and succeed so hey, maybe I'm talking nonsense and there is a way?
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions or if want to talk. (Excuse the plug) I run a teaching/mentoring side-hustle (I don't dare call it a business), I'll happily give you a free consultation or answer any questions over the phone.
What do you want to do?
1. Build a website? Use a theme, WordPress, Ghost, host it for free on Github.
2. Add feature X to your site? Memberstack, Stripe, Zapier, etc.
3. Do any other X? Is there a no-code Y that lets you get the same or similar result quickly? If yes, use it.
Learning to code is probably not ideal because it will be a long time before you achieve sufficient competence to build something good and even longer before you build it. Then assuming you went through all the hoops, travelled many deserts of desertion and you're now a proficient coder with your website online... what's the chance you were right?
You do gain some benefits: you have a marketable skill that will let you find a well-paid job and you can proceed to build your next project. Which will again take a long time if you want to do it yourself so you run into the same problem. Rinse and repeat.
Generally, custom = expensive + needs a lot of time. Remember you will still need to do other things: marketing, sales, strategy, customer support (if you've got any), and so on.
This very thing has been my exact problem trying to switch from writing code to building a business. The natural tendency was to use that skill and build something over several months. I repeated this several times and failed several times. This is not the way because you do not get any feedback until your product is done. Months of effort for naught and you get the worst type of failure - one that requires a lot of resources but gives very little in feedback and information of what _would_ work.
That said it's probably worth learning some coding (say, Python or JavaScript, HTML, CSS aka the Web stuff) just so you're not completely green and can find your way around.
You also do see tech guys write stuff and succeed so hey, maybe I'm talking nonsense and there is a way?
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions or if want to talk. (Excuse the plug) I run a teaching/mentoring side-hustle (I don't dare call it a business), I'll happily give you a free consultation or answer any questions over the phone.
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