amit wadhwa::I call this general technique the pyramid method amit wadhwa

amit wadhwa::I call this general technique the pyramid method.
This means: pick a single relevant venue to join at the entry level and work to increase your standing.
Make sure the venue offers clear metrics on your progress; use these metrics to guide your efforts to get better.
Forget all the other bullshit advice and ministrategies people offer for getting ahead in your pursuit.
Put your head down, and get it done.
The strategy can work for many skills music, sports and coding.
But choosing the proper venue is critical.
Imo, apart from the above properties mentioned by chris, the venue should have some other properties.
Have a low entry barrier: so that you can start early from a entrylevel.
So, you are actively engaged when you can solve nontrivial problems in your arena also.
This also ensures that good coders will keep coming to your venue rather than taking off someplace else.
Can cater to more than 1 skill: i find this important to be a successful programmer you have to do more than code!
This can involve making system architecture, understanding existing codebases, soft skills like communication.
One of the venues i know is topcoder.
Com as it offers all what chris has outlined in his article and what i have outlined here in this post.