[gnachman]

Two things: 1. Broaden your knowledge as much as possible. Don't just find one thing that's comfortable and stick to it. The only way I ever found to do this is to implement real programs that solve problems that you have. 2. Once you're good at something, help other people. They'll remember this and it'll come back to you in the future when you're looking for work. I taught someone C programming when I was a bit younger than you and he got me my fist job after college. That made all the difference in starting my career. Even if it hadn't paid off in that way, I'm still glad I did it.