2 part question about Programming Career and Online Community

[knightwriter]

Hi all. This past semester I have started towards my CIS degree in earnest. I have take programming logic which I thought was the most helpful class I could get as a beginning programmer. I feel I now have the tools to be able to program in any language once I learn the syntax. I have been working on learning Java all semester on my own. So far I have created a text based rpg program, and a simple 2d puzzle game, both using netbeans.

Next semester I'm starting C++ and Visual Basic. They are both required courses for my major, and I'm looking forward to both.

My first question is what could/should I be doing on my own to further my knowledge of programming and to make myself more marketable than anyone else who will eventually graduate with a CIS(Computer Information Systems) degree? I'm not required to take Java, but from my research it seems that this is one of the most sought after languages on the market today. For example, aside from learning a language on my own, I am also bettering my math skills in trig and calc.

My second question is that I would like to be part of the open source and/or Java coding community and I'm not sure how to go about this. Part of the reason is that I would like to contribute and give back to help the people that will come after me who are looking for free information to help them learn. The second reason is that I would like to have some working with the open source or Java community to be able to put on my resume when looking for my first position.

Thank you all in advance for any advice you can give, and if you have any other suggestions for bettering myself as a programmer please feel free to share.

[knightwriter]

Is my question to long? Does not anyone have anything to say?

[DarrylBurke]

I think this topic matches better with 'Jobs Discussion' so I've moved it from 'New to Java'

db

[knightwriter]

Thank you for moving this. I really hope I can get some answers. I really want to do well with this being my career.