My first contact with programming resulted in a receipt system for the company I worked for. It was done in VB and then I upgraded to Java.
I lived in London for 2 years and during that time I dedicated myself to studying in my free time. I worked 37 hours in two days and ended the week with 110 hours of work (no pain, no gain).
I have days when I can produce a week's work. The opposite can happen, but I'm struggling to resolve it.