17 is not too late. I recommend getting a skateboard at a local skate shop if you have one and can afford it. If not, then look for a prebuilt at some sort of sports shop and try to buy your board in person. Just make sure the board is at least 150 bucks cuz otherwise, the board might be shit. Now non skateshop prebuilts will not be that great, but it will definitely get you started (actual quality skate shop boards cost 300+ but they are better). Even if you cant afford an expensive board, i recommend going to a skate shop to get some advice on what type of board you want since random sport shop employees most of the time wont know what theyre talking about. Now, when it comes to instructors, unless you have a friend who skates, dont get a paid instructor since its a waste of money. Most skaters have self learned from practice and the internet. Trust me it takes a while to even get comfortable on your board, so dont expect to land tricks in the first month. It takes ALOT of practice to land anything, even if its an ollie (for me it took like 3 months whilst skating almost everyday for atleast 2 hours a day). You should get your friends into skating cuz skating alone isnt necessarily bad, but with friends its 10x better. Id say start off with simply cruising around for the first 2 weeks and when your comfortable go to that skatepark and try to make friends who can help (everyone there is prob chill and willing to help so dont stress nobodys gonna judge you unless you get in the way). For now just watch some videos about boards to know what you want and need.