I've been following up a lot of postings on this site, basically on programming, my area of interest and i must say am glad to be here.

Am currently a 100 level Computer Science student and i need advice on what steps to take to attain my passion of being the best in my chosen career. Be it Software development, DBA, web development, programming, Networking, systems engineering.

I intend to make a great mark.Am just a green horn in search of the gurus and i hope to find them here.

Merry Cherry Wishes.

You need to look outside your college walls(like you've started doing).
They wont teach you all you need to know if anything at all in
your college,its a good stating point though.You need to personally
develop yourself thru books(they may have some in your college library),
search for relevant and good tutorials on the Internet on your areas of interest,
and PRACTICE,PRACTICE,PRACTICE.Practice they say make perfect.

Congrats Nania,
You are on the right path. In short you are making the right move. All you need now is someone that will tell you what to do as at when.
To start with, as bakenda said, the first set of tools are books. You need to read, and then practice whatever you read. Now you also have to make a choice of programming language and your target platform. Thank God for internet, there are free resources on internet to exploit. Now goto www.freeprogrammingresources.com for books on different kind of languages and technologies in programming.
I hope you will also be seeing programming as fun asap.

@Nania

There are two major categories when it come to the IT, hardware/software. if you tend to be more of a practical person then you go for something that relates to hardware. like A+, CCNA,CCNP,Linux + ,systems engenieering e.t.c. On the other hac if you are more of the conceptual type then you should go into programming and scripting, like Java, Web devlopment,software development, database administration e.t.c


good luck

Congrats,

I think u should start with a good Object Oriented Programming book.

Its good u know u'd like to be a software developer but remember , Coding skills is not the most ubiquitous tool in the arsenal of a developer.
Its a broad knowledge,
Inquisitive mind,
Analytical thinking!

So, please don't let your other Computer Science course suffer
make sure you understand the rudiments
Please, Maths is your friend

Just study hard, and get always add an IT book to your reading list, for every semester !

Software development , like all things worthwhile takes time and dedication,
I guarantee that if u follow this formula you'd Graduate as a seasoned and well rounded Computer scientist/Programmer/Software Engineer

The future is bright!!!

And please in addition to what they ve told you, please learn from my own experience.

Don't become a two-week dilletante learning a new language every two weeks(of course, i gained an understanding of the similarities shared by all the major languages).

Please choose any of C++,C,Java, PHP or the Microsoft Languages and master it. Don't let people discourage you with old wives tales they heard from their incompetent elder brothers and sisters. And please start small and progressively become better.

NOTHING IS TOO SMALL TO BE LEARNT AND YOU WILL ALWAYS LEARN FROM TAKING ON BIG PROJECTS EVEN IF YOU DON"T FINISH THEM. I know , I ve been there.

I really do appreciate every one for ur advice.Happy September