the great thing is that just about every company is willing to work with a complete beginner...but you've gotta be aware of the pitfalls that suck in a lot of new people. Getting the moon for free happens, but it's rare, and you can do a lot more a lot quicker with a rather small investment.

The people here can help you out a bit, but before you do or ask anything...

http://articles.ynotmasters.com/publ...icles.cgi?ID=1

read all the articles there, and go into the older messages both here and there and see what info you can find... you'll be amazed with how many of the questions you've got now have been asked a million times and have been answered so well you won't really need to ask much at all.