I think this is underappreciated advice. While you're young and don't have crucial responsibilities like earning money, you can spend your time however you wan

I think this is underappreciated advice. While you're young and don't have crucial responsibilities like earning money, you can spend your time however you want and not be pressured into doing anything in particular. That means you can try a lot of things and make a lot of mistakes without worrying. You get a lot uf unbroken time to focus on one project if you want - find a problem that interests you and figure out the hell out of it. In all likelihood, it won't pay off immediately, but you will learn a lot and that will help long-term. Or, dip your feet into a lot of different things until you find something you're passionate about. This is actually general advice. People don't think much of the young, so you can do many things you're "not supposed to do" later, i.e. get in trouble with few consequences. Perhaps this isn't an answer about how to gain traction as a coder. While I'm not an authority, contributing to Free Software helped me immensely. Find a project with contributors from large companies and spend a few months asking questions and helping out. You will make useful connections and will stand out for recruiters.