What kind of programming are you interested in? Personally, I'm more into HTML, CSS, and a bit of PHP; have been into these things since I was about thirteen or so, when I began running my own fan-sites and whatnot. It's very fun, if you ask me, especially when you're successful at getting things to work!
Like you, I also got here for ROM hacking initially. Though, I eventually wound up giving up on it, since some parts of it were quite frustrating for me. One thing would have to be scripting; I did manage to learn, but oftentimes, scripts that I do write either don't seem to work or break the game entirely. Regardless of how tough I tried, I just was not able to fix or get around, sadly. If it weren't for that, I still would have been a hacker, most likely, haha.
Anyway, welcome to PokéCommunity, dear, and I hope you enjoy your stay here! Should you ever need anything, I'm here to lend a hand; feel free to send a message to me any time.