Unfortunately when competing with the "big boys" you either need
1. a very large budget to get people to program for you
2. learn how to program and slowly chip away at them
3. Find a family member that can program and convince them to do it for you

The problem with learning to program is you need to learn so much for instance.
1. Learn a language and its basic principles
2. Learn the libraries you need to use in that language
3. Learn how to setup a database
4. Learn how to read and write to the database using the language (which generally involves learning another language which is SQL).
5. Learn how to deal with problems/errors/exceptions
6. Learn how to scrap web pages (HTML, Javascript, etc)
7. Learn the betfair and/or other betting agencies APIs (SOAP and REST)
8. Learn how to analyse data.
9. Finally start to write a system.

It takes years to learn the above to a competent level to program an advanced bot which makes money. But that is just about all you should need to learn.

It might take 2-3 years to get through all that stuff and 99% of people will fail to get that far. For the 1% of people there are rich rewards at the end of the rainbow.

The other option you have is to manually back/lay using your own brain and not automate anything. IN that case you just need to buy the right tools to allow you to easily analyse the data and also easily place bets. That is a respectable way to do it and a lot of peple make good money without a fancy automated program.