I'm wondering how people got to their current level of programming skill. I learned far, far more from the books I got online and studying on my own, than from the campus bookstore and the college profs.

Part School and part Self learned. The time I was in High School I learned some, then when I was in 2 year Technical College I learned some. However, most of the stuff I know is Self instruction; sources from books, software, internet and other people.

I'm totally self taught.  I started out with a TI-99 and move to a Commode64.  Both used their version of Basic so later when I bought a Tandy1000(an IBM compatible), I only had to learn to the extra features in Tandy Basic which was similar to GWBasic which I started using after up from the 8088 Tandy 1000. 

I'm still using GWBasic, but I did invest in Visual Basic a few years back but never took the time to learn it, besides I would have to rewrite all my programs.  I downloaded a trial copy of Liberty Basic a month back and used the tutorial that came with it to check it out and was impressed enough to consider buying a copy of it since it's written for Windows.   Then again I may just save $50 and dig out my copy of Visual Basic and start learning it instead.

I'm mostly self taught, though learning on the job over the last 10 or so years comes in second.  I'm still "climbing the mountain" of learning new technology/techniques and have the energy to continue with it.  Books, online content and magazines have been the most helpful since things change frequently, once you're out of school the content gets dated rather quickly.  My next door neighbor was a Computer Science major from the US Naval Academy and since she didn't use it for 5 to 7 years her education became rather obsolete, what can be remembered that is.   

It greatly helps to have an interesting data-set to code against.

I started with Basic on a Vic20. Then moved to an Amiga and learned Assembly language. Bought a PC and learned about visual basic. Then moved onto C++ and Java while doing a Computer Science degree. Learned a lot about data structures and algorithms which speeds up programs a lot.

right now, im quite a newbie ni coding. but i trying to study through online tutorials, books, etc. :)

I am surprised (and amused) that so many people learned by self-study.

I had a VIC-20, too. Massive 3583 bytes of free memory.

Ah but it's not the size that matters but what you do with it.

 Remember the huge 16k ram paks that you slotted into the back of the machine. And the games use to be on rom cartridges. Remember when you could program your own games and sell them?

I took some computer courses years after I finished college.  I took evening courses after work at local colleges. (late 70s, early-mid 80s) I didn't understand it then, and I don't understand it now.

I completed BASIC, COBOL, and dropped out of Fortran before I had a nervous breakdown.

It's been almost 30 years, but when I start to see a lot of zeros and ones, I hide in the closet. The rest is a total blank to me now. When I hear "algorithmic language" I think of our former Vice President talking about global warming.

I guess I'll stick to surfing the net and playing pinball.   

I started this thread because I was wading through a pile of ... excuses, on another topic, and I needed to get some neutral data on this particular point.

I was also testing a theory regarding non-coders who have trouble finding someone to convert their ideas into a program. It seems some have trouble converting their ideas into coherence, too.