The most effective thing I did to improve my programming skills was to join a team that was accountable for a goal with a real deadline. If you don't have acco

The most effective thing I did to improve my programming skills was to join a team that was accountable for a goal with a real deadline. If you don't have accountability, you don't need to make progress. No one knows or cares that you didn't work on your software project if you don't tell them. But if you have people counting on you, you have to make weekly deadlines. Accountability is the key to success. Especially one it is accompanied by a strong desire to gain acceptance and approval from the cool kids (e.g. the really good coders who you are working with).