As a n00b trying to learn how to program, I completely agree with your points about Ruby on Rails. After getting in over my head going through a few rails tutorials, I took a step back and realized that while I could create really basic web apps and go through the keystrokes to write code and commit to Git, I didn't understand what the hell I was doing from a conceptual level. It was rote code copying from a tutorial or a book while leaving out the layer of actually understanding what and how the program works. It felt hollow.

I then took a step back and went to MIT's OCW courses that use Python to teach the basics of CS. None of the lectures introduced Django or other web frameworks, rather, they used Python as a means to teach core CS concepts. From there, I used the basics of what I learned to create simple scripts and conceptually understand what I was coding.

Then, I slowly ventured into Django tutorials. But even with the Django tutorials, I'm taking a step back because I'm having difficulty wrapping my head around databases, structuring data models, and basically, learning how to PLAN an app before I write code.

At the end of the day, I think it is really difficult to learn how to code on your own because it is so much more than learning syntax. This is where mentors and the community comes in. Mentors matter a whole lot more than great tutorials and working on a real project with other, more seasoned developers (basically, an apprenticeship) completes the circle of going from complete newbie to "entry level programmer".