I have all the credentials. My resume looks great, and I have a degree from a top university, but in reality, I am at best a mediocre programmer. The problem is that I don’t have much passion for programming. I like some aspects of it, but when I encounter a challenging problem, I get annoyed and bored. I don’t find it rewarding even if I solve the problem. I want to be a good programmer so that I can keep my mind sharp, possess strong skills, and develop cool software and make money.

My plan to improve:

Brush up on the basics of the programming languages I use most frequently and of general computer science.
Develop my website idea.
Implement algorithms and data structures as an exercise.
Read about compilers and OS’s.
Brush up on math skills relevant to computer science.
Compete again on TopCoder, and do well this time around.
Actually spend time doing these things.

Hopefully then I’ll seem like a real CS major.