How does one advance in programming?

Posted by Joe Barr on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Joe Barr
Published on 2010-05-28T00:37:25Z Indexed on 2010/05/28 0:41 UTC
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I really have the felling as if I'm stuck in my own craft.

I've been developing and learning for a while now and keep having the feeling that I should advance more, or even be more knowledgeable. I've started projects I didn't finish because I thought I lacked the knowledge and the skill to make that feature work just right, or to make that code magically appear on my screen. I've read books I didn't finish, thinking I wasn't advanced enough for the subjects they covered. I've been around long enough to know that everything comes with experience, hard work and dedication.

Having said this, I just want to be able to work without getting stuck on a particular problem that involves my cluelessness of a language or a tool feature.

My question to you would be, how does one advance in programming? What are the secrets (if any) to advance to the point of fluency in a particular language or a task.

Thank you!

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