Be curious. Follow up on that curiosity with actual experimentation. You need a big funnel of ideas - read a lot of technical stuff (HN, trade magazines, etc.)

Be curious. Follow up on that curiosity with actual experimentation. You need a big funnel of ideas - read a lot of technical stuff (HN, trade magazines, etc.). The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away. — Dr. Linus Pauling Write software for your own use; modify and be involved in open source software that interests you. Buy eval boards and other hardware that you can experiment with. People who do great things look at the same world everyone else does, but notice some odd detail that's compellingly mysterious. — Paul Graham