Kevin-

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>>I learned them thru texts in school
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>You will have no-doubt been started off on the right foot if you had the chance to study this in school.



FWIW, I've learned about 1000 times more out of school than in--most of that from self-taught programmers, too. One of my friends is 100% self taught and has forgotten more computer science than I'll ever know. Just want to point out school has only the tiniest bit to do with our education as software developers.

>When I agreed to become a programmer, I was sent on a course to learn a language, not a programming course or a beginners programming course, so I was severely dropped in the deep end, the answer to your original question.

Okay. That sux, IMO. For you, I mean. But that's just an initial problem that's easily resolved, thankfully. Do you really _want_ to be a programmer? Has it gotten into your blood? If not, then don't bother reading this message. If so, then, do yourself a favor...both for the short term and long term. Read, hang here and other newsgroups. It's the path to greater personal and professional satisfaction, IMHO.

>In my present job, I am told to write something, I'm not given any time to plan/research the development of the product, I work in a world of politics, not IT.

Heh. You're a programmer, right? Treat yourself like an IT department (even of 1) and eventually you'll be recognized, even if it doesn't fly with the current position. I venture a guess here that maybe only about 3 people are actually paid to learn stuff on the job. It's a fact of life for programmers. We always have new things to learn and there's never really time for it while on the clock. I'm independent and very little of my learning time is billable. But it pays off later.

It's up to you. Just my lousy .02 USD worth. :)