Python was the first language I taught myself (after a brief flirt with C). It’s as intuitive as languages get. ATBSWP is tremendously accessible and IMHO gives you just the right challenge. I.e., it shows you how to do something, then asks you to do something a tiny bit different to make sure you understand. I’ve never done the “Crash Course” (I did Learn Python the Hard Way).
Python for algo trading/monitoring is good because Alpaca is a commission-free platform designed for algo trading and its API uses Python. Python is also great for machine learning / stats / AI application, but you need a tremendous amount of processing power to do that well. (And preferably a solid ability in multidimensional vector calculus and stat methods.)
I do not work in the industry, but have occasionally browsed listings. Generally the listings I see for python are (1) data science (2) machine learning (3) webdev. The third being notably behind the first two. The first two generally require a STRONG mathematical foundation–a programmer needs to understand what they’re automating, after all. Like I said, multidimensional calc and/or stats. (Ideally, also R and Python libraries like Keras, TensorFlow, Numpy, Pandas, etc.) The third requires at least a working knowledge of other web technologies (HTML, CSS , Javascript, etc.) or at least how Python can interact with them, plus ideally Python webdev frameworks (Django, Flask).
Six months depends on how you spend it. 40-60 hours/week? Maybe. 5 hours a week? Probably not. All depends on how much you learn.
All that said, learn Python. It’s totally worth it, even if you just automate a few simple tasks at home. And even if you can’t get a gig in 6 months, maybe a year or two later? And as someone else said, you can definitely get to the point where you can build an algo-trader/informer in 6 months, even at just a few hours a week. I was only doing a few hours a week and built some small functioning things within six months to a year. ATBSWP is great for giving you ideas on what you can automate.
Also feel free to DM me, I was thinking about building some algo trading stuff last year and got sidetracked on webdev and ML projects. Again, not to say I am an amazing programmer, but I think we have some similar interests.