How long did it take you to get good/profitable?

[Josh!]

I've been playing poker (usually NL/PL HE, but with some PLO, Razz, Stud, Draw etc mixed in) virtually daily online for about four months, and I've definitely improved a ton in that time period (having only properly learned the basics a few weeks before starting online). I've read the SuperSystem and am currently working my way through Harrington on Hold 'em, Small Stakes HE, Ace on the River with HE for Advanced Players on my to do list after that. Mostly been playing low buy-in SnGs and 10NL on FullTilt and PokerStars.

I'm still pretty bad, though and for the most part I only seem to read about people who like deposited $50 somewhere and ran it up to some obscene amount while beating the various limits with ease as they went. So after so many months playing and studying and sucking and donking off a few hundred dollars, should I be disheartened? Or are there a bunch of people out there who didn't start to show real signs of progress until a year or two into their poker careers but are doing well now?