Doing + training for local & ACM programming competitions was easily as valuable for me as the CS classes I took in college. (It helped that our coach was the a

Doing + training for local & ACM programming competitions was easily as valuable for me as the CS classes I took in college. (It helped that our coach was the awesome Eugene Luks.) There's a lot more than just the core problem solving bits involved in making software, but it's a v. useful skill.