I told him that he should do the following:
- Start a blog, or even better, get signed up on ThoughtStreams.
- Announce your plans and goals (e.g. create one new web app per week or per month)
- Generate a list of ideas to implement. This do not need to be unique. In fact, they should be, the point is to not create new things but to simply build what is already easily understood so you can focus on the technology stack; instead of what to build, you focus on how to build.
- Create a new GitHub repo for each project.
- Make unit level commits as you learn and build each project.
- Document what you do through a weekly blog post and/or as-you-go stream of thoughts for each project.
- Consider screen-casting tips as you get more comfortable.