You can too.
First study the driving manual carefully. Most of the knowledge that you need is on there. I'm astonished how poorly non-drivers know the laws of the road (they're largely applicable to them too!). Also the booklet has a lot of techniques relevant to driving (two second separation, add a second for every risk fact, ect).
Now start driving. Get a friend to help you if you have one. Start [0] small, slow, empty, local residential streets and alleyways. Work your way up to more complicated situations.
That's how I learned to ride a motorcycle at age 32 with just the two day MSC course.
[0] Actually the first step is to "drive" with the car turned off. Pretend your driving and then.. BAM! Danger on the road! Can your foot find the breaks? Did they trip instead? Use a timer set to 40s.
I also have a full-time job. It is the first time in my life (since I started working FT at 16) that I have been able to do this though.
There are higher-end driving schools for adults. But most of them are going to assume you already know how to basically drive and they'll be even less compatible with a full-time schedule. (i.e. you'd need to take some vacation time)
Agreed. But adults are more patient if you already have 10 hours of steering and finding the break pedal on someone else's car.
For the more advanced (and safe) driving, it’s all about predicting other drivers by recognizing their type and knowing how they will respond. That’s really hard and new/foreign drivers are the most difficult. It’s also what makes driving in other places so hard and occasionally dangerous for experienced drivers... LA is not NY is not Boston is not Berlin is not Naples is not Greece is not Shanghai is not Seoul is not Beijing is not Delhi (I think many people who’ve driven/riden a lot in these places will instantly feel how it is to drive each of these cities).
You have to drive differently in each place so that other drivers (even the ones who are just learning) know what you’re going to do... be predictable and like the other traffic (even if it breaks rules, goes too fast, and gets too close together. I've never driven in Africa or Eastern Europe, but as a passenger it’s terrifying. Other places like Shanghai seem to break the rules in more polite ways that I’m more comfortable with.
To give an example many people will recognize, if you leave ‘too much room’ or drive ‘too slowly’ on a LA freeway other drivers will cut you off in incredibly dangerous ways... you have to ‘move with the flow of traffic’ which often means 15mph over the speed limit with less than a 2 car length gap to the vehicle ahead.
I remember for about the first month making a real point of avoiding routes and times that would expose me to a lot of stop and go traffic, especially on inclines.
I can't imagine what initially learning to drive a stickshift somewhere like SF must have been like!
Which is the issue, as I have no friends or family nearby, nor anyone I'm close enough with to ask such a favor of.