How to pick an area for focused improvement
Let me preface my post by saying I've done a bit of searching, but so far I have not been able to find any posts that contain exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm a relatively recent college grad (BS in comp sci) and have been working at my first full time job out of college for the past few months. Right now I'm working in QA, but I might want to switch to development at some point in the future.

The thing I am having trouble with is trying to figure out where to focus my efforts so that I will see the maximum growth and productivity gain as a computer scientist. I own and have partially read many good books including *Code Complete*, *The Pragmatic Programmer*, *Effective Java*, etc. but I feel that as soon as I begin reading one book I come across another one online that I yearn to start reading.

As far as the specific skills I would like to improve heres a short list:

 - write simpler, more elegant code
 - more quickly comprehend code and projects written by others
 - more quickly and effectively debug issues I come across
 - increase my capacity to learn new concepts
 - become more familiar with and adhere to standard practices
   - QA, Java, general coding style, etc.


Things I have considered doing to improve my skills:

 - Reading books
 - Joining an open source project
 - Talking with more senior people at work in a mentor / mentee capacity
 - Taking extension classes at nearby universities
 - Getting certified in a particular language
 - Taking up a recreational side project in my spare time

I would love to hear about how you prioritize and follow through with your own learning goals, and also hear what you think about my ideas and which would be most effective for personal improvement.

Thanks!
How to pick an area for focused improvement
===

Let me preface my post by saying I've done a bit of searching, but so far I have not been able to find any posts that contain exactly what I'm looking for.

I'm a relatively recent college grad (BS in comp sci) and have been working at my first full time job out of college for the past few months. Right now I'm working in QA, but I might want to switch to development at some point in the future.

The thing I am having trouble with is trying to figure out where to focus my efforts so that I will see the maximum growth and productivity gain as a computer scientist. I own and have partially read many good books including *Code Complete*, *The Pragmatic Programmer*, *Effective Java*, etc. but I feel that as soon as I begin reading one book I come across another one online that I yearn to start reading.

As far as the specific skills I would like to improve heres a short list:

 - write simpler, more elegant code
 - more quickly comprehend code and projects written by others
 - more quickly and effectively debug issues I come across
 - increase my capacity to learn new concepts
 - become more familiar with and adhere to standard practices
   - QA, Java, general coding style, etc.


Things I have considered doing to improve my skills:

 - Reading books
 - Joining an open source project
 - Talking with more senior people at work in a mentor / mentee capacity
 - Taking extension classes at nearby universities
 - Getting certified in a particular language
 - Taking up a recreational side project in my spare time

I would love to hear about how you prioritize and follow through with your own learning goals, and also hear what you think about my ideas and which would be most effective for personal improvement.

Thanks!