I'm considering a bit of a career change, perhaps combining what I do now with either a "regular" job, freelance work or perhaps even part-time work if sustainable.

I want to discount office work and any sort of customer service employment, as neither office politics or whingers are my bag lol.

I'm computer literate, with html, webpage and (basic) website building experience, but no real proper programming experience. I'm looking to learn something that's got a future beyond the next year and has broad enough appeal in the marketplace to be open to people that are'nt required to have done 4 years study just to get their foot in the door.

Looking around on here and other forii that I frequent, JAVA seems to fit the above requirements, but it would be good to have some feedback from others.

All advice appreciated

There are plenty of jobs out there for javaprogrammers....but if you know Java, you need another 3-4 years experience for those jobs. Knowing Java is just the foundation...you also need to know how to use Eclipse/debug, how to use Ant, Maven, SVN/CVS etc....experience is important as you need to be quick. Otherwise you need 1 week for things that can be done in one day.

For the well paid jobs you also need to know how to avoid memory leaks, how to write Unit Tests and how and when to apply the right Patterns.

Thanks for the input.

I suppose I should clarify my expectations too, this would'nt be my main source of income, so while a regular wage supplies some security & peace of mind, i'm not chasing money. As such, i'm fully prepared for any prospective employment to be at the bottom rung of the ladder.

getting the experience is killer.
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The memories Remain, static.

I concur with Darkhorse57, I'd recommend looking into web2.0 development and looking into stuff like AJAX over Java.

Thanks for feedback guys, appreciated.

Darkhorse, I fully agree with and understand why looking towards future market trends is not just important, but essential, it's one of the factor's as to why I don't intend just sticking with what I do now. However, I guess as i'm green to this environment I simply picked out one of the more common (and easier?) languages to pick up.

Also, I was looking at Java as it has both wide-ranging internet, desktop and proprietry applications, which it makes it flexible enough to operate in different markets. That said, being a noob to programming (reading Java for Dummies lol) i'm sure someone will tell me there are other languages out there that have the same, if not greater, potential across the board.

Again, thanks for comments so far, keep 'em coming

If flexibility is of paramount importance to you, Java certainly has that.
My interest is in developing Windows applications so I'm learning C# and .NET.

My last post was based on the assumption you just wanted to learn something in demand.