Like Havana Syndrome, you mean?

https://www.webmd.com/brain/features/havana-syndrome

Sure.

Ooof. I recall we had an RFB member on here? Can we get the inside skinny?

So here's the original story: https://news.ifeng.com/a/20180415/57588143_0.shtml#p=1

Running through Google translate:

According to Guangxi News Network, on April 12, 2018, in Liuzhou, Guangxi. Recently, when some citizens passed by Building No. 9, Binjiang West Road, Liuzhou City, they were deeply puzzled by the densely packed "plum blossom piles" erected here. The reporter learned that the relevant departments set up this "plum blossom pile" here to prevent homeless people from gathering and taking root here. Most of the homeless people living here have been properly evacuated and resettled. Photo courtesy: Visual China

Downstairs of Building No. 9 on Binjiang West Road, there is a promenade similar to an arcade facing the street, about 50 meters long. Since 2016, it has been favored by many homeless people and has become their settlement. The vagrants found discarded mattresses, mats, etc., and spread them under the corridor.

At most, there were about 10 homeless people gathered here. They ate, drank, and littered here, and piled up the waste products they picked up here, which had a negative impact on the sanitation and urban management here.

It is understood that in August 2017, Zhongnan Street and Qingyun Community diverted the homeless people gathered here to an uninhabited private house, and set up a "plum blossom pile" under No. A large number of homeless people gathered.

According to the staff of Qingyun Community, the establishment of the "Plum Blossom Pile" is only a temporary strategy, and a new plan is currently being considered to build it into a green belt or a fitness center for citizens.

More generally, "hostile architecture" is definitely a thing, and should definitely be extirpated.

One (very imperfect) way to evaluate this is to look at the length of "coding bootcamps". https://www.schoolofcode.co.uk/ , for instance, is 16 weeks of instruction - around three months. You could get a lot out of looking up bootcamps, seeing what they cover in how much time, and then DIYing it.

(I wouldn't actually do one, they can be pretty exploitative).

Worth asking what you want to be proficient in, though. Not all programming is the same; you could become proficient in basic web junk to commercial standards pretty quickly compared to, say, putting together desktop applications to a decent standard.