[taylodl]

Scratch your own itch. Create software YOU want that would be useful to you and you could learn something by creating. Don't worry whether it's a new idea or whether anyone on HN thinks it's cool. Other than that I would recommend learning different types of programming. Systems, applications and web programming come to mind. Use different types of languages too. This is the only way to get real-world experience on the different platforms, tools and programming styles. It's that experience that will move you along in becoming a great programmer.