Motivation and practical learning

Question

I'm a newcomer to StackExchange and this seems a very good place to ask my question, that's been wandering in my head for a few months.

Currently I'm 22, I'm studying a BS of Computer Science in the UNED (Spanish Distance University) and I'm doing well. I have a job as well, doing web programming (PHP, SQL, CSS, HTML, Apache, that kind of stuff) in a company, but working from my home.

I've tried those last few years to accomplish success in other programming languages. I started with C++, Java, Perl & Python and although I can say I have a decent level on it, it's difficult for me to find some projects where I can use them. And I mean real projects where you can drive the language level to its cap.

I think the lack of motivation is one of the reasons behind this. Its like after a full day repetitive programming, my brain is exhausted and it is hard to achieve something. Also, I have problems with my learning methods. I read a lot of forums (like this one), a lot of books and websites talking about programming, but I don't know how to apply the knowledge acquired. It's like I need a different approach to learning, a more practical one.

So, the question is:

How do you find the motivation to keep programming after a full day at the job? How do you find a more practical learning method? (It's easy to keep reading about programming after all, but it's another to actually code something big).

Thank you in advance.

PS: I'm not a native speaker, so don't mind me for lexical and grammatical errors.

Answer 1

It is all about the project, at least for me.

I was totally bored with my job (same programming language I used for years, ancient workflow-paradigms and so on.) for some time, already pondering switching employers. And for a long time I didn't have the motivation to code something at home at all although I was so bored with my work.

But then some day I had an idea for a project which motivated me enough to work on it for months after work. And now that it is nearly finished my thereby accumulated expertise (I learned a new (at least to me) programming language in the process) is becoming interesting to my employer and I get a chance to use it in my daily work which makes this job exciting again.

So, find yourself a tool you want to code and you'll motivate yourself. And consider this: Every completed tool is something you can show off to potential employers or to your own for that matter. That can be motivating as well.

Answer 2

Code Kata.

http://codekata.pragprog.com/

Find a project that interests you. Do it in every language.