You have kind of jumped in at the deep end with this one especially as you have no plc experience, there are many modern systems with simplified programming, computer based testing software so you can test your program long before loading up and with a logic block building system, far simpler than the ladder system which is now becoming old hat.
If you can tell us what method your programming in (logic block or ladder) and what kind of programs you are creating, I could probably post you a link to free PLC programming software which allows you to create and test your programs before you download to a PLC, you have a testing module there often used for proving functionality of a program, if you are then sucessful in writing your program you can then downlod it and run your plc while your program monitors it in real time thus watching your program onscreen as it works in the real world.