Leveling Up

I recently read a blog post by Jason Rudolph about leveling up as a software developer. To paraphrase him, the idea is to:

1. Identify the experiences that advance a person as a developer.
2. Select a particular experience to pursue.
3. Pursue that experience to completion. (Achievement unlocked!)
4. Reflect on that experience. Really soak it in.
5. Return to Step 2, this time selecting a new experience.

This was along a common vein with some things I had been doing, and generally seemed like a good fit for me, since I'm fairly new to programming, so I forked his list and modified it to suit my circumstances:

Program in a variety of different programming paradigms

• Write an application in a functional language
• Write an application in an object-oriented language
• Write an application in a prototype-based language
• Write an application in a logic programming language
• Write an application using the Actor model
• Write an application in Forth

Program for different platforms:

• Write a nontrivial web app
• Write a nontrivial desktop app
• Write a nontrivial mobile app

Enhance my understanding of the building blocks:

• Use machine learning to solve a problem
• Write a networking client (e.g., HTTP, FTP)
• Write a B-tree database
• Wrap an existing library to provide a better user experience
• Write an application or framework that provides a plugin model
• Write a testing framework
• Write a lexer & parser

Enlighten myself:

• Complete five code katas
• Complete the programming koans for a language that you want to learn
• Attend a code retreat
• Read SICP and complete all the exercises

Program in the open:

• Contribute to an open source project (Added three words of documentation. Ha!)
• Have a patch accepted at an open source project
• Earn commit rights on a significant open source project
• Publish an open source project
• Perform a Refactotum of an open source project

Learn by teaching others:

• Present a lightning talk
• Present at a local user group
• Present at a conference
• Publish a tutorial
• Publish a constructive code review of an open source project

EDIT: I have since updated this list.