[BassPlayaYo]

OP: The best thing to boost your programming skills is to actually use them on a real project. A real project can be one where someone is paying you to do something for them, in your case an entry level position or an idea that you have that you want to bring to fruition. Personally I would start looking into mobile development with iOS and Android, iOS uses Objective-C and Android uses Java both are not that different from C++. If you're able to create an app that makes money, it will sell world wide and it won't matter where you are.