instructions / recommendations for my potential apprentices

initial steps / things to know

If you need immediate money, move along. I almost certainly can't help you. I'm offering help for you to acquire valuable skills, but it will probably be months before you learn enough for the skills to be valuable.
You don't need any experience. I have theorized for years that I can take some people "off the street" and get them going quickly. To some degree, I want to prove the foolishness of large corporations importing Indians who have degrees, and that's foolishness just on a practical and financial level, without getting into larger issues. (Ok, it's not foolishness at all, for the most part. It's several parts of a larger plan, but that's an issue that is largely beyond software dev. One issue at a time.)
I don't care where you are. I'm not planning on meeting you in person. (However, I've met at least 3 of my respondents over the years.)
At some point, I can discuss various possibilities for eventual money. The most obvious one, which will take months (at least), is that you get to the point where you can do (web) development projects. There may be quicker paths, but it depends on a bunch of things; don't count on them.
You need a laptop or desktop to do development. For that matter, you are probably going to wear on me quickly if you even write to me on your mobile device. Generally speaking, I don't make decisions or move quickly. When in doubt, wait until you're at a real computer to write me. You're not going to lose out by not responding immediately; otherwise put:
Also about speed / timing, this isn't a contest in that I will do my best to help everyone who can "pass" these various points and whom I otherwise communicate well with. It's not like I'm going to choose someone and then stop talking to everyone else.
It'll probably take the equivalent of a few printed pages of words from you before I decide to use voice. Writing software is indeed writing. I need to know how you write. And that's only one reason I want to know how you write. And I'm not talking about grammar or punctuation and such. I can read SMS-speak pretty well, although I prefer you do SMS speak from a real keyboard. As long as I can make out what you're saying, I'm good.
Along those lines, it probably helps if you type fast and reasonably well.
history shows that it will take me days to really start talking to people. It only takes a handful of responses to overwhelm me. It takes a while to dig through them. I get overwhelmed in part because I'm the ultimate Myers-Briggs introvert. It's not the raw data that overwhelms me. I wouldn't be much of a dev if raw data overwhelmed me.
Sometimes it takes yet longer to whittle through everyone. To some degree I'm making a list of people for future reference. I've made the mistake of trying to be in exactly the right spot to find apprentices. I'd better cut that out and just be clear that it may take a while to really get communication going.
Note that CraigsList emails go through a relay or an alias. I generally don't have your email address. If I ask for it, or ask you to write me at my real address, that's why. It will usually take a handful of exchanges to reveal my real address.

an attempt at a very short statement on what to do

I wrote this section for people I'd already talked to as of January, 2019. I'll probably refer "later" people here, but I'd understand if you have some questions for me first.

I'm going to try for once to be concise. I see two clear paths for apprentices to start:

HTML / JavaScript path

The easier path is the HTML / JavaScript path that goes something like:

figure out what an HTML file is. (Perhaps figure out what a computer file is, first?) Then create the simplest possible HTML file that says something, like "Hello, world!"
make that HTML file validate
look up some "Hello World" in JavaScript. Try it.

The benefit to the HTML / JavaScript path is that you have everything you need on virtually any laptop or desktop. (It is unclear to some people that you can't code / develop / program on a cell phone or tablet. I'm sure some people do it to some degree, but it's not in my repertoire.) A browser is both your execution and debugging environment (look those words up). I recommend Chrome.

I'm sure there are a zillion how tos and videos and such. See if you can get off the ground. After trying for a while, ask me questions.

Don't confuse JavaScript with Java.

Linux path

If you really want to get me excited about helping you, install Linux. Specifically, Ubuntu Desktop 18.04 LTS (long-term support). As of early February, 2019, I'm not in a big hurry to move to a later version.

A 10 - 15 year old computer would probably suffice. You can find the minimum system requirements. You can probably get away with 30GB of disk space for a long time, but every GB beyond that helps.

The safest way to install Linux is to start with a blank hard drive. Presumably Windows (or iOS) partitions can be shrunk to make room for Linux, but you run a risk of erasing your current system. So far, I refuse to look into the partition shrinking issue because I don't care two shakes about proprietary OSs.

Again, there must be a zillion how-tos and such.

why I want an apprentice, this time

In January and February, 2019, I found myself doing recreational programming. Some or all of what I'm writing could eventually make me (us?) somewhat richer and / or slightly more famous, but it would need more work. It'd be nice to have someone to continue those projects, even if it takes a very long time to get going.

Eventually I'd want someone to work on my existing paid projects, but that will probably take months before you're skilled enough.

previous ads

On one hand, I'm not sure how relevant my older ads are. On the other hand, I just realized that I broke the links to my previous ads. I didn't mean to do that. Also, I just got the question of "Why?" I want an apprentice. I answer that briefly above. I have much longer answers in my previous ads, although, again, I'm not sure I see things the same way.

In any event, here is my previous ad.

page history

the previous generation of seeking apprentices

03/04 7:48am -- fixed 2 spelling mistakes
02/18 10:21pm -- parenthetically qualified my "foolishness" comment regarding the actions of some corporations
02/18 10:09pm -- added link to previous ad and that paragraph around it
2019/02/18 5:22pm - 5:30pm+ - minor revisions; closer to CL
2019/02/09 5:52pm - adding a bunch of stuff possibly before posting to CraigsList
first posted ca. February 6, 2019, 7:00:13 PM EST. This is an approximation becuase that's the last modification time that I captured, not necessarily the first posting. I first posted the JavaScript / install Linux section