@Rad, I think this is where the buck stops for me i.e 2d-3d programming and hopefully onto game programming with a final embedded OS onto display systems with metadata ( 3 years on a hobbyist basis ). Something I'd like to share with this list is that the junction of where to move next is a very tricky place to be in. This junction can be a make or break point. I talked to a number of friends were basic programmers and all were of the same outlook. What next? Its something I've debated over and over until I gave it a rest for a few weeks. What I can also share with this list and especially those aspiring to become full time programmers ( not wazee like us ) is to give game programming a go. Whatever you learnt will be applied 100% from objects, classes, methods, properties and ofcourse the use of new ways to do programming. Forget web or desktop apps during your learning stage, you will never know the language well. The web is heading the right way and will be the future between internal and external systems so know your XML well. Mobile apps are still a very grey area with more emphasis on rural systems, payments systems which may limit your abilities to write more effective programs or even face limitations due to handset variations. And then there are telcos, who will want to have things their own way. Building an app then depending on telco gateways is tricky. Mobile apps also depend on server end services, so will you also code an entire server script just to make your app? Innovation is misused here because to be innovatitve is to go a route that does not exist and you do not want to be limited on your innovative route, you want the freedom to create and evolve something to the highest levels possible.