Steps

1. 
   1
   Take an introductory course in one (or both) of the following disciplines:
   
   • Logic
   • Discrete mathematics
   
   
   Ad
2. 2
   Learn database concepts such as tables, views/queries and procedures. You can use any simple database package to do this, such as:
   
   • MS Access
   • DB V
   • Fox Pro
   • Paradox
   • MySQL is a good database to learn because it’s free, commonly used, and databases are commonly accessed with SQL queries
3. 3
   Decide what type of programmer you want to be. Programmers generally fall under one of the following categories:
   
   • Web programmer
   • Desktop application programmer
     
     • Operating system (OS) oriented programmer(tied to a single operating system or set of operating systems)
     • Platform-independent programmer
   • Distributed applications programmer
   • Library/platform/framework/core programmer
   • System programmer
     
     • Kernel programmer
     • Driver programmer
     • Compiler programmer
   • Programming scientist
4. 
   4
   Learn the technologies and programming languages related to your programming field of choice. The following sections break down the tasks for different types of programming.