Like someone already mentioned, I would focus on developing something useful. For you or for someone you know. I went through the exercise of listing my current

Like someone already mentioned, I would focus on developing something useful. For you or for someone you know. I went through the exercise of listing my current frustrations to find what I should be working on on my blog (link at the end of my comment) The challenges you will face during the development of a real life application will help you learn much quicker. Which language you will choose depends on your preferred OS, your inclination towards Open source, if you want to maximize your wages, etc.. Link to the blog post about the frustrations exercise: http://aymeric.gaurat.net/index.php/2010/my-frustrations/ http://aymeric.gaurat.net/index.php/2010/my-frustrations/