[paulkoer]

So the obvious question: What did you focus on that let you improve way more than other people? I do write code and learn something new every day and while I would say that I have improved a lot in the last few years I am still ways away of where I would like to be. Somehow I have the feeling this is not going to change.

I imagine that everyone has to decide specifically where they want to improve and figure out how to work precisely on that, but I would be interested to hear what exactly has worked for you?

[sreyaNotfilc]

paulkoer, what I did to become better was not to study techniques. I've actually did two specific things...

1) On the job full stack developing (by force). I had no choice really. All the other developers left leaving me as the loan developer. At that time I thought of ... a) Leaving the organization myself - Since my skill level wasn't that great (Only thing I knew was how to build web pages with Microsoft's VS tools) I would've became a junior developer somewhere else. Or worse, went back to help desk. I easily passed on that idea.

   b) Learning all there is about the current environment that I'm developing on at work. This was tough especially since I was the only developer and working as a help desk tech. To do so I had to go through a lot of sleepless nights and hair pulling to deliver the product. I also showed up on the weekend at my office to finish up projects even though I didn't get paid for that work. I also had to really pinpoint the things I was afraid of (e.g. taking on tough tasks, JavaScript, asp.net 4.0, setting up databases, deploying systems in different environments, documentation, reading other people's code, reading/using open source software, etc.). It sounds silly to me now, but before that decision I really didn't want to deal with the pain of learning that stuff (and was glad to let the senior guys deal with).

2) Work on projects of my own outside the work. I started working on my site (artJutsu.com which is just a prototype of an idea right now) around the time the developers at work were leaving the organization. I wanted to get better, but I hate just reading tutorial after tutorial. The best way for me to learn something is to create something, get stuck, and then overcome it. The whole "Scratch your own itch".

This ended up not only helping me skill wise, but helping the organization that I work with. I'm able to develop software very quickly and (most importantly) correctly. Not only that but with these new skills, I am able to correct a lot of outstanding problems as well as build applications much more robustly. Its amazing what I've learned in the past 2 years just by surrounding myself in this field.

I've always wanted to start a business, and you don't do that just by thinking about it. You have to "put your nose to the grindstone". Now you don't have to go all out like I did. I would suggest to do #2 on my list. Think of a project (or join mines lol) and get yourself into some trouble with it (and you will :D). Think through it, and overcome. Trust me you're a lot smarter than you think, but it does take some work. Some "blood, sweat, and tears".

The good thing to know is that you are not alone. There are other people out there going through the same thing. The ones who are good and efficient are usually willing to help. All you have to do is ask.

(sorry for the long post)