I'm by no means a proficient programmer so take it with a pinch of salt. Learning syntax is easy, the art form is morphing that knowledge into something that's

I'm by no means a proficient programmer so take it with a pinch of salt. Learning syntax is easy, the art form is morphing that knowledge into something that's actually got a function or purpose, then making something that's maintainable and secure is a whole different game again. Most of my programming skill was improved from writing small apps to solve something, generally something part of the day job that was boring, menotinous or time consuming. When I'm going to benefit from the output it's far easier to be motivated, I find it much harder to code on side projects as they're benefiting others more than myself... Keep expanding and improving your small scripts, and you'll eventually end up with a "system" which does a load of different jobs, then improve that system