I was in your position 4 years ago. I had spent some time learning HTML/CSS + PHP and had thrown up a few websites here and there. I wanted to get into real web dev, and I decided Rails would pave that road.
I'm not one for books, but Ruby on Rails: Up and Running (http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596101329/) was an incredible resource for new devs. I have since introduced two other people to Rails though that book and they loved it. One issue: it's old. If they haven't updated it for Rails 2+, don't go near it. You might want to try the Rails Guide instead (http://guides.rubyonrails.org/getting_started.html)
From there, I picked up Ruby for Rails (http://www.manning.com/black/). I read about 20% of this book. It was critical for me understanding the "magic" behind Rails and the weird syntax behind Ruby. I came from a somewhat CS background, so YMMV.
After that, I left the books behind. I just found problems and tried solving them with Ruby & Ruby on Rails. I did a few crappy webapps, some of the Facebook engineering puzzles, some of the Project Euler questions.
----- One word: PRACTICE. -----
At first, stay away from doing it perfect, just get something working and iterate. You don't need a full suite of tests, scale to 1M users, and super-clever meta-code (you dont need this ever). Every project you do you'll get better.
And when you get stuck, know where to go for help. The people who hang out in #ruby & #rubyonrails on freenode can be really helpful. To get the most out of this help, enter the room, state that you're new to Ruby/Rails, explicitly state your end goal (I want to see a list of customers on the screen), and include all your relevant code in a pastie. You may have to be patient, but the people there are super smart and super helpful.
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Through a combination of self taught Ruby on Rails programming and putting myself in professional situations with room for programming growth, I have been incredibly successful. I'm positive you can too. Pracitce lots, always be learning, don't be afraid to ask for help. Best of luck.
I'm not one for books, but Ruby on Rails: Up and Running (http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596101329/) was an incredible resource for new devs. I have since introduced two other people to Rails though that book and they loved it. One issue: it's old. If they haven't updated it for Rails 2+, don't go near it. You might want to try the Rails Guide instead (http://guides.rubyonrails.org/getting_started.html)
From there, I picked up Ruby for Rails (http://www.manning.com/black/). I read about 20% of this book. It was critical for me understanding the "magic" behind Rails and the weird syntax behind Ruby. I came from a somewhat CS background, so YMMV.
After that, I left the books behind. I just found problems and tried solving them with Ruby & Ruby on Rails. I did a few crappy webapps, some of the Facebook engineering puzzles, some of the Project Euler questions.
----- One word: PRACTICE. -----
At first, stay away from doing it perfect, just get something working and iterate. You don't need a full suite of tests, scale to 1M users, and super-clever meta-code (you dont need this ever). Every project you do you'll get better.
And when you get stuck, know where to go for help. The people who hang out in #ruby & #rubyonrails on freenode can be really helpful. To get the most out of this help, enter the room, state that you're new to Ruby/Rails, explicitly state your end goal (I want to see a list of customers on the screen), and include all your relevant code in a pastie. You may have to be patient, but the people there are super smart and super helpful.
---------------------------
Through a combination of self taught Ruby on Rails programming and putting myself in professional situations with room for programming growth, I have been incredibly successful. I'm positive you can too. Pracitce lots, always be learning, don't be afraid to ask for help. Best of luck.