Learn the fundamentals of your chosen programming language.
Create projects as you are learning. Put them on Github.
Learn your tools or IDE.
Learn how to read other people’s code.
Learn how to write tests. Test your code.
Learn how to search(google) or do research on a problem.
Learn Data Structures(List, Map, Set).
Use a programming platform(Leetcode or hackerrank) to solve problems.
Be part of a programming group. Join programming meetups or social media page of a language or framework like Java or Springboot.
Learn at least 2 programming languages. In my case for 2021, I am focusing on Java/Springboot and PHP/Laravel. If I have time left I will learn Python/Django