Programming as a practice is the intersection of a conceptual methodology (the decomposition of complex computation), existing architectural corpus (operating systems, data structures, frameworks) and a collection of constantly changing domain specific tools (the web, graphics languages, scripting languages, systems languages, build-system languages). Give it like 2 years at least and maybe you'll have something that looks like a budding craft.
Nobody in their right mind would say "I tried learning Spanish in 3 weeks, couldn't really do it." And even when you do climb that hurdle that doesn't mean you're suddenly capable of reading anything in any domain. I should mention: I spent a few years tutoring beginning CS students. Some of these people would be two years into their degree and still had difficulty programming. These are people who do this mainly full-time, now imagine trying to do it in your spare time along side a difficult career. My point is not to discourage you, but that if you experienced difficulty, it's par for the course. Good things never come easy.
You said you want to get ahead in life. Prove it, bitch.
