Andrew has a point here. Take a look at your interests and see how you can apply your programming knowledge to that. Think about movies, sports, social, science, government, weather, etc. There's a ton of APIs out there that you could use to keep track of anything or to visualize. Do you use facebook or twitter? Write some code to parse your friends or followers or something and build graphs based on content. Also, you could check out http://www.mashery.com/[^] Start small so that you get something functional as quickly as possible. This way you can gain confidence and build momentum by adding more features and so forth. Try to find something that interests you personally, and that you would want to use, and get excited about. Be sure to use some type of version control system as soon as you start. Create a simple RTF document to list some basic features and build tasks from that. If you can't get to something make another list for "Future Tasks".

This is going back many years, and from memory it went something like this:

- (bool)is_even(int value)
{
if (value == 0)
{
return true;
}
else if (value == 2)
{
return true;
}
else if (value == 4)
{
return true;
}
...
else if (value == 12)
{
return true;
}

return false;

}

And so it went to 12 and I guess for the context in which it was used it apparently was a high enough number. You could of course replace this method using a simple modulus operation. What's also funny is that I saw this code in a printout on the wall of an engineer, which had been there for a couple years. A short time after, another engineer, new to the group, found this method still existing in another part of the code base (apparently just copy-pasted from its original location). The code base was very large. Lesson learned is if you find bad code somewhere do a global search to insure it is not duplicated anywhere else.

Decide how you want your future to be. Map it out on paper. Since you are focusing on career spend a day or two with how you want your work day to be like. What do you want to be working on? Small or big company? Where do you want to move to? What are your other interests outside of work? A big city would be a fun move for you and get you a lot of life experience. You can join lots of groups in all interest areas. Keep this vision handy so each and every day you have to study and take tests you know you are one step closer to your future self. I suggest to continue working and get that degree no matter the cost! It's a pain in the ass sometimes I know (I have a B.S. and M.S. and I nearly had a nervous breakdown with the M.S. as I am not good with academics but I work really hard, and I stuck it out and graduated.) Once you get that degree it's DONE. A degree takes you places and gets you in the door. Without a degree you are a step behind (regardless of others without a degree have made it). There are exceptions. I recall a web post where someone complained that it will take FOUR YEARS to get a degree. The person replies, How old will you be in four years without the degree? 26. How old will you be in four years WITH the degree? 26. Slow and steady wins the race. You can see and do many more things with cash from solid employment. Keep the goal in mind so you can get through each and every day. Keep your face to the sun and you will not see the shadow. P.S. I forgot to also recommend internships as others stated about. Make this a priority! Internships will gain you valuable experience. Study, take breaks, get the best grades you can, write code that people can download and use so you can build a nice resume over time.

Start your own business. http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07/10-myths-about-self-employment/[^] http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07/10-reasons-you-should-never-get-a-job/[^]

In all my years of math I was never shown this. Awesome.

Don't waste the next 10 years doing work for someone else if you don't like what you are doing every day. I did this for 17 long years and finally made a change just over one year ago and started my own business as an independent developer. Running a business can be very difficult at times, however my perspective on software development and outlook on life has changed considerably and is much more positive! There are tons of startups and exciting opportunities available these days. If starting a business is not for you then find a company with products that you would enjoy working on every day. This way you can get your groove back and enjoy coding once again. Don't spend your days working on crap. This is what I did and it can really wear you down. I am 39 now - about to turn 40. If I could be 25 again I would have spent those days doing something fun instead of the daily grind, saving money in my 401K so that when I "retire" I can finally enjoy life. Start now. There are tons of possibilities. It's NEVER too late to make a change.