What is the single most effective thing you did to improve your programming skills?

Posted by Oded on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Oded
Published on 2008-09-16T20:07:25Z Indexed on 2011/02/06 7:33 UTC
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language-agnostic

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self-improvement

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skills

Looking back at my career and life as a programmer, there were plenty of different ways I improved my programming skills - reading code, writing code, reading books, listening to podcasts, watching screencasts and more.

My question is: What is the most effective thing you have done that improved your programming skills? What would you recommend to others that want to improve?

I do expect varied answers here and no single "one size fits all" answer - I would like to know what worked for different people.

Edit: Wow - what great answers! Keep 'em coming people!!!

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