I can't agree more - excellent article and recommendations.

Link to Software by Rob : Software Training Sucks: Why We Need to Roll it Back 1,000 Years

 Good article that includes what I believe are some of the keys

• Good at solving logic problems (knowing what boolean logic is)
• Loves to learn - I would rather code with a newbie than with someone that uses concepts from yester-year.  That isn't to say that there aren't some concepts that are somewhat timeless (Computer Science at college handles most of those), but when you get done to the technical implementation level things change and you need to keep up or risk becoming irrelevant (or even worse ignorant)
• Balance your learning between the principles (I would throw throw design patterns, refactoring, etc... in here) as well as the technology

Link to Software by Rob : Advice on How to Become a Programmer

 Good article that connects the three areas and talks to the relationships between them and how they work together to shape a software development approach.

Link to Agile Journal - Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Agile Software Development