Communication is probably the biggest skill needed if you're trying to be an employed programmer working on a team. If you're just trying to be a hobbyist and

Communication is probably the biggest skill needed if you're trying to be an employed programmer working on a team. If you're just trying to be a hobbyist and do stuff for fun then I'd say you need some things that aren't necessarily skills like curiosity, a love of challenging problems, and ability to easily retain information that you read.