If Midtown Atlanta made the top 10 list for walkability you need to check your math.

All companies are Information companies now. Any job that you can get will require some minimal knowledge of how to use a computer.

If you are really trying to get to an "intermediate" level you could start doing simple data structures and algorithms. Learn the classic sorting routines, linked lists, etc. Once you understand those you can start seeing how they are used in large programs. Look at some of the annotated programs -- the Lion's book on Unix is a good collection of readings to see how an operating system is structured for example. Games are a great way to develop your skills but you may not have enough background yet to get very far. Read the Python source code - you may not understand all of it but you will learn how a language interpreter is put together.

Welcome to a long and twisty path as a programmer. Something new to learn every day.

Old Joke: "What do they do with Engineers when they turn 40?" A: Buy them a birthday cake then take them out to the parking lot and shoot them.

18 years of experience probably means you are either getting close to your 2nd cycle of becoming an "expert" in a technology area or you've been doing the same 2 years work 9 times in a row. Either way, it's time to get out of your current sweet spot and learning something entirely new. You need to get "leverage" with your experience. Really learn something like Agile Processes, Project Management, Finance, a critical business area, requirements management, Continuous Integration/deployment tools, DevOps, etc. Don't try to recreate the same old skills in a new programming language -- it's a dead end.

Me? I started programming 40 years ago in high school and have over 30 years industry experience. I've tried to learn something new every 18 months and have managed to survive so far.

Good luck, the next 10 years of your career can either be the best decade or the hardest depending on how flexible you are.

You could always look into a digital design or graphics design curriculum. Some of the better art schools are lightyears ahead of the computer sci schools in teaching ways to really use the web and digital media.

Good luck,

Plant a tree,
Rescue an abandoned pet
Help kids,

Be a person your Grandmother would respect.

My thought exactly. You could go through the entire series then get him started on some of the short stories.

I can see them off-shoring production to China and getting 100's a month. Their big problem is going to be training pilots fast enough.

As far as the "age" - it was a good design then and is still a good design. Upgrade the weapons to something more modern and they are going to be very dangerous on a battlefield.

All of the early Robert Heinlein are fun. Lots of great stuff out there.

-c

Put together a very detailed checklist of everything you are going to hand off. Make him own the list and take notes then make him do a review with you and his manager of what he's learned and then have both of them sign off on the training. Be available for quick questions but keep very detailed notes about how much time you are spending during the first couple of weeks. When he calls you should ask what he's done already with the problem to make sure he isn't getting into the default behavior of calling you first. You need to make sure he can be successful (as in the don't burn bridges philosophy) but at the same time is taking ownership of the job.

Good luck,
-c