[vermasque]

I was in your position. I was doing very well in college academically and yet I felt I didn't know enough. People with lower grades than me simply knew a lot more and built significant things. And I didn't realize the issue until relatively late, close to graduation. At that point, it limited potential job opportunities. I still got a good job based on academic performance. However, others were getting better opportunities because they could do more.

It's good that you at least recognize this and are thinking about doing something. I echo the others in regards to building things in order to learn. Keep doing this. Make it a priority. Classwork will provide some educational value to a point. Do enough of it to maintain decent grades and get the educational value (the theory by design). However, make the time to work on your personal stuff every week even if just a little bit. I'd even go as far as sacrificing some school assignments if you want to do your personal stuff.

Java is used a lot out in the real world so it's not bad to know it. I work for a late-stage startup that makes money and runs on Java. Look at Android and a lot of server-side web stuff that the big players use. If you know Java, you can start building bigger things. Look at the Play! Framework (playframework.org) for building web applications. Learn some basic HTML, JS, and CSS for the client side (I recommend w3schools.com). Deploy to Heroku so you can publish it the world (http://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/play). Now you have a product.

Get internships and/or co-ops. Get exposed to the world outside of the classroom for the applied skills. Those can be effective opportunities to bridge the gap. Your personal projects will be valuable in getting these opportunities.

If you want to understand the value of the college courses to the applied world, ask your professors about how the course content solves real-world problems.

[HackR]

I really really like your response, thank you so much, this is what I was looking for!!