Becoming a better developer in six months...

As I try to clear up my blogging backlog, I came across this entry from Scott Hanselman about removing programming crutches.  This stems from one of his recent podcasts about becoming a better developer in Six Months.  I did a quick Google Search on some key words in that statement and it returned a lot of entries by other folks which leads me to believe that other developers are picking up the torch on this and giving their 6 month plan.  So, without further ado, here is my plan to be a better developer in six months:

Get My Microsoft Certified Professional Developer certification

This is something that I've been working through in earnest over the past few months as I make my way through the MCPD Self-Paced Training books.  Unfortunately, the books are so darn heavy (1,000+ pages) that it's not really practical to carry it with me all the time. 

Blog More

My blogging comes in spurts - at times I'm on top of my game and at other times, I'm a bit of a slacker.  Therefore, I am going to endeavor to blog at least 3 times a week - and at least 2 of those times will be code-related.

Host More Lunch 'n Learns at Work

I am a tremendous fan of Lunch 'n Learns.  If you're not familiar with the concept, it is an hour-long presentation given by a developer to teach an interesting concept/show-off an interesting tool/etc. to your co-workers.  I've presented only a couple of times, but I'm always coming up with topics that I should present - but with all of my other work-related tasks, the actual presentations fall off to the wayside.  Therefore, I resolve to present more over the next 6 months.

Continue My Masters Degree Courses

For the past year or two, I've been taking courses at DePaul University towards a Masters Degree in Software Architecture.  Unfortunately, though, my work schedule has been such that I felt that I wouldn't be able to give my 100% to the courses, so I have taken a bit of a sabbatical from the courses lately.  It's time to get back into it and force my work schedule to accommodate the time in the classes.

Code Code Code

I am a firm believer that all of the above is nothing without actually applying the skills in a constructive way - so I will be making a concerted effort to not only read about the latest and greatest technologies out there, but apply the newly gained knowledge to actual real-life projects.