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Where to go from being a young, intermediate Programmer?

3 points by bad_alloc ↗ HN
You all know the "Hod do I start?" questions, which are asked by people who want to learn how to program or worse how to "hack". But what happens after you did everything on the list? I am now seventeen years old, I am fluent in three languages (C++, Python, Lisp), know Linux and Windows quite well, can operate hardware etc. I've also participated in many projects and competitions concerning programming and such. Soon I'll have a traineeship in a IT company producing search engines. But what should I do until I hit university (apart from improving my English)? Pack on more languages? Continue with Projects on Sourceforge? Do something completely else? How would a professional answer the question "How do I continue from here on?"?

3 comments

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gruseom
If I were you I would dive into multiple open-source projects. That's a way to gain in both expertise and credibility, and it positions you to make money doing interesting work over time.
TeHCrAzY
I'd take a stab that other things will not be as easy (for you) to pick up as a new programming language. You're on the right track with learning better english (if you feel its a weakness), think of other things that you consider hard (sometimes thinking of "boring" things can point out what you're bad at too) and target them.
amitm
I was in the same position a few years ago. My advice is to build as much as you can; open-source/your own projects, it doesn't matter. The main thing is that the stuff you build should be interesting to you. You will be more motivated if its stuff you enjoy and you will become a better programmer