1. Take every opportunity you can to learn more. A lot of this will happen on your own time. Many of us have probably spent almost as many hours learning on

1. Take every opportunity you can to learn more. A lot of this will happen on your own time. Many of us have probably spent almost as many hours learning on our own as we have on the job. 2. Consider looking for a company/group/task where you are the best programmer on the team. You might have to take lower pay, but there's nothing like being the only guy/gal around to speed up your learning. 3. Head to management if it looks like a good fit.