When I first joined SA just before the WSJ article I had about 20K seed money to invest. Newbie was even term too good for me.
Background marginally counts.
I got lucky with a few picks early. Built the 20K to 40K, then within a week dropped 28K waiting for divine intervention on stocks that had hit their highs. Sure they'd come back just like my 401-K, and annuities, all long term investments. I went out and bought some books mentioned on SA and SI thread. I also listened to your advise to learn one stock.