I started at a tiny Web firm as a front-end dev. I was OK at it at best. Only 6 months in to this part-time job (I was also a firearms instructor), the only backend developer left. I was then forced to pick up a book to learn ColdFusion 8. I had to finish a project for a multi billion company... even though I only knew basic queries and form submissions. At the end of the project I learned so much... I went back to pages that I knew were terrible and refactored them. Since there are so fresh CF developers I was able to get contract positions in many places. Over 6 months later I now work for one of the largest development companies in the states.