3. Get your hands dirty with competitive programming

Once you have learned data structures and algorithms, you should start solving problems on websites like SPOJ, Codechef, Codeforces, Topcoder, Hackerrank, Geeksforgeeks etc. The more problems you solve, the better it is. It is better, though, to solve problems in increasing order of difficulty. You can sort the problems in descending order of the number of submitted solutions and start solving. After solving around 100 mixed variety problems, you will become confident about your programming skills.

After you have become comfortable with solving the questions and coding the solutions, you can then start participating in various online programming contests. Doing this will enhance your programming skills a lot.