I wish more business guys would try to learn programming, so well done sir. But I do have a quibble with this statement:
> if you want to become a programmer, you have to be comfortable with having to learn new things constantly for the rest of your life".
In my experience, the quickest way to tell that someone is not cut out to be a programmer is when they complain about the amount of continual learning that is a requirement of the job. The only way you can become a great programmer is if you LOVE learning new things, and the prospect of there being a great wide expanse of things yet unlearned fills you with excitement instead of dread.
So I think beyond having to be comfortable with that process, it better be something innately necessary to you or you will get burned out on this job.
You can extend the functionality of google apps using apps script. I thought it was already in use and there were libraries of extensions, but I don't see any. But I'm guessing they will be coming soon..
> if you want to become a programmer, you have to be comfortable with having to learn new things constantly for the rest of your life".
In my experience, the quickest way to tell that someone is not cut out to be a programmer is when they complain about the amount of continual learning that is a requirement of the job. The only way you can become a great programmer is if you LOVE learning new things, and the prospect of there being a great wide expanse of things yet unlearned fills you with excitement instead of dread.
So I think beyond having to be comfortable with that process, it better be something innately necessary to you or you will get burned out on this job.