It definitely should be more than a week or two for a new player. it took me about a month to get my first 50, and that was skipping the main story.

As far as DoH skills go, although yes, with a GC scroll and FC buffs, its definitely possible to get pretty high up pretty quick, its not necessarily feasible for a new player.

In other news, Welcome to Jenova! we are great people here. Let me know in-game if you need any help, preferably via mog mail (I keep /tells hidden most of the time)