How to become a developer

Every now and again I see a request on the JDC for teh magick knowledge that will turn a person from random guy to developer. So for the second time today I'd like to vomit my wisdom all over the internets.

First learn how to use the command line. Ideally both Unix (Cygwin if you don't have access to Unix-a-like) and Windows Command Processor. I'm not saying you should have mad hacker skillz, just be able to navigate the directory structure, set (and check) environment variables, start new applications and maybe some basic control structures (if statements and loops).
While you improve your development skills, try to also update you knowledge of the command line. Commands like grep, tail, awk, cut and paste have simplified many an awkward job.

I don't think I need to tell you to learn the basics of your chosen language, but I've just been bitten for assuming people don't need to be told the obvious so I'll state it here. Learn the basics of your chosen language.
That done, the people at The Pragmatic Bookshelf have asked themselves the same question I'm now answering, and came up with the following three books - Pragmatic Version Control, Pragmatic Unit Testing and Pragmatic Automation. I agree completely with the subjects they have selected. Get yourself a book, or some online tutorials on all three subjects.
Now what you need most is experience. Knowing cool shit like patterns will help in the long run, but without the experience to place them in context they will be of limited use. So go out and play. Think of a project and do it so you can learn from your cock ups.