The first question that should be answered is “is it possible to become a programmer in 6 months?” The answer is “yes”. It is doable, but it won’t be easy.
What you need to learn to become a programmer
In order to become a programmer who’s ready to work on real projects, you have to learn several different things:
1. Programming basics.
2. Some programming language.
3. A set of tools (usually, a framework) to use this programming language efficiently.
So, this is more than just learning a programming language. See also the article 5 Main Stages of Learning Programming.
Pick the programming language wisely
The programming language will define the complexity of the entire learning process, so choose it wisely.
Some programming languages and tools are much easier to learn and use than others. The easier the language is, the quicker you can learn it.
Accordingly, if you want to learn programming in just 6 months, you’ve got to select a programming language among the easiest ones, like Python, Ruby, or PHP (at the same time, it is not the best idea to start with JavaScript).
It would be more difficult to learn, say, Java and tools for it in 6 months. And it would be completely impossible to learn C++ in such a short period of time.
The good news is that comparatively “easy” languages nowadays are as in-demand as those difficult ones, sometimes even more. So, even if you pick the “easy” programming language, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to apply it.
You must make your programming education your full-time job
Of course, each of those “easy” programming languages is “easy” only compared to the more difficult ones. It means that you still have to put a lot of efforts if you’re determined to learn it quickly.
The only way to become a programmer in six months is to make the learning process your full-time job.
You have to learn at least several hours every day five or even six days a week. And these must be the most productive hours of your day.
Stick to your learning plan and stay focused
Learning programming requires persistence, because sometimes it’s getting really difficult.
You have to stick to your learning plan and stay focused on your goal to learn this specific programming language and tools for it, even when it seems like there are some much easier languages and tools to learn (which is usually only an illusion if you are already learning one of the easiest programming languages).
Otherwise it will be impossible to get a tangible and usable cohesive programming knowledge and skills after six months of haphazard learning a little bit of this and a little bit of that.