Best way to learn programming in 3 months or so?

Hi all. I’m a 33 year old coming out of an extremely dark period of my life and am looking to put the past behind me. One of the things I’m doing is considering a job change, and programming is 1) both highly in demand and 2) something I’ve always wanted to do.
However, I also have a lot of other things on my plate ATM so I want to make the best use of my time.
I’ve been using FreeCodeCamp so far and I love it! I’ve also Googled some and so I have the following questions :
FCC or Viking Project? If I like FCC (and I do) should I just stick with it?
I also enjoy CodeCombat and other coding related games, because I love both coding and RPGs…natural fit. However, they are really kind of slow. I find FCC a lot faster than CodeCombat. Are there any intensive coding RPGs?
I’m a fast and dedicated learner by nature, so perhaps a coding bootcamp would suit me better? However, there are tons of them out there and even after perusing several review sites I’m unsure which to pick.
I would enjoy going as fast as I can and having the freedom to practice when and where I would like to. So far FCC fits these 2 categories so I’m wondering if I should just stick to it.
My goal here is basically to find out as much as I can and learn as much as I can in 3 months, by which time I should hopefully know whether I want to pursue it as a possible career path or not.

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Title is a bit missleading but here is my advice:

  • If you enjoy working with JavaScript, stick with FreeCodeCamp, if you find Ruby more friendly or awesome, then use Viking Project.
  • I don’t think there are any more RPGs than teach programming, but you could try making your own.
  • Usually coding bootcamps aren’t worth the money they cost.

I suggest you to try to create different kind of software (games, websites, mobile apps…) and see which one interests you the most, then dive into it and learn, learn and learn.

As @Oxyrus said, different people like different languages. Everyone has preferences. So if your goal is to get a job, go look at a bunch of job postings and write down all the languages mentioned. Check them all out. See which one(s) you like most.

As for how to actually learn it quickly, there is no substitute for having a project. You will get nowhere just reading documentation and typing in tutorials other people wrote. You need to come up with your own thing and just start writing it. Use all your teaching materials as references. When you get stuck, find out how your language of choice does whatever it is you’re trying to do. Use mailing lists or forums if you have to (try to figure it out yourself first or you won’t learn).

If you have no programming background and want to learn a language well enough to get a job within three months then I suggest you adjust your expectations, because that’s not long enough. If you already knew one language and were just learning another then that would be completely different. Don’t let that discourage you – I just don’t want you to get to the end of that three-month period and get depressed about your “failure,” because it’s not a reasonable goal.

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