Been programming for a while, and I can honestly say I've embraced my inner nerdiness. By doing so that has helped my programming skills as I work on a side project almost every night after coding for my job.
I really think mobile application development is where the future of the industry is going. Most of my side projects are now related to the Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8. However, I do all my web work using PHP and MVC.
I try to follow the mantra of keep it simple stupid!
I'm focusing on networking and becoming part of the community of developers. Not only to help myself, but also to help others. Wisdom is earned through many failures (big and small).