[highCs]

I really love to see that. I believe great programmers are the one who've started countless projects from scratch on their own (of course my opinion is oversimplified here). This, 1PPM, is really what you're looking for if you want to become a great programmer. Nothing else, just that. So go for it.

[preordained]

I...don't know about that. I've worked with several programmers who were great at getting something up and running, but we're kind of crap at going deeper--adding depth, maintaining. I'd go as far as to say they typically had an attitude of "I got it up and running, mission accomplished!" Maybe they need to get closer to that 1000 mark to learn the value of planning for the long term, making something you can continue to build on, etc.