I tried the route of learning programming myself and I can tell you that even if you can learn the basics in no time, it will take far longer to get up to speed with most of the folks on this site in terms of ability.
I took up Rails and am glad I did, but I realised that my skill was severely lacking. I was lucky to somehow find a partner with excellent programming skills and a server to host our baby.
What I suggest is to teach yourself programming in the mean time, while you are waiting for your partner. Don't jump into it for the sake of it or if you're not fully comfortable or sure of the other person.
I'm sure you wouldn't do that with marriage. :)
Thanks so far for the feedback:
- mixmax: I have already bought some books to teach myself, but am finding it hard to concentrate! It has been a while since I have had to do any technical learning.
- uruzseven: To a certain extent, everyone is doing it for the money. After all, I did mention that the site was going to be an "ecommerce/community site".:) I believe my question was a fair one as I have not had experience in web programming, but am interested, now that I am in between jobs.