I started on my own (reading books, trying code, etc), then after a while I became an channel op (altho I still sucked), and I learned alot from the other ops there. Fluent conversations on code has taught me alot, direct feedback is kinda important. There was always some friend around on IRC to smack me around with a large trout if my code sucked, or to pad me on the back when my code was somewhat less sucky :)

A very underappreciated group are ofcourse the newbies... (I am not talking about the script kiddiez, crackers, Pr0n freaks, etc but the annoying ones, the ones that kept coming back, asking good questions on things I never touched before). Somehow people asking "How do I do X" motivates you to look up that stuff (and therefor learn more). And altho they didn't have the intention of making me learn new things, they somehow did :)

Moment of gratitude: Thanks mortum, hachi, chantel (wherever you are), biglug, aqutiv, aquitaine, neofuture... olly++ for peskering me all the time :)
Moment of humbleness: Bowing before : Larry, merlyn, tchrist

Greetz
Beatnik
... Quidquid perl dictum sit, altum viditur.