I had previously grown flowers and vegetables and have a college education in biological sciences, so I think you have to count that to some extent.
I STILL know nothing about growing... heck, I can't even grow a chia pet...
But a serious answer to the Q, I went from growing what my tenant referred to as my 'lanky mersh plants' under flouros in a crawl space, to growing viable indicas under HIDs, in about 4 months, or one complete cycle.