How do I go about this? Are there any free resources that’ll help me get started?
I see people advising to start with a small project, but you need to get some basics down right? What language? How to develop it and stuff?
My only experience is some very basic C programming classes I took during school.
Just start with python or node.js and do some tutorial. :) If you want to get good, you should read a book though. There are many details about a language that online tutorials don’t cover.