How can I make myself better at programming working at a shi* job ?

Posted by Scrooge on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Scrooge
Published on 2011-04-04T06:10:09Z Indexed on 2011/06/27 16:32 UTC
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career

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self-improvement

I recently graduated with an Engineering degree in Computer Science, but my employer (a mid-sized software company) is not using my logical and programming skills. I want to move to a better opportunity but how do I do that since my experience here is not going to count as much?

How do I get a better programming job?

The worst part is that I am still reading from books (and not writing code myself) even after I have started working. They are paying me a standard entry level Indian IT job rate but I really dont care. It's not worth it. Please advise as to how I can do something worthwhile. (I have studied C++; Core Java; Ruby On Rails ..made a couple of academic projects but no relevant practical real world experience).

Just to make things easier .. let me list a few basic queries

How I get better at programming without a good project at my company?
Please suggest projects where I can learn to write practical code (platform doesn't matter)
Best place to take part in open source development?
Is it possible that I earn slightly more while I learn? (apart from my sh** job I mean)
What kind of practical projects are best suited for me? (ie for an entry level programmer)

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