ocinManus

I've gone back and forth over the years, but I still think that C/C++ is a great starting point for any developer.  I don't think the majority of people should go hardcore into developing with it (unless you're particular field calls for it) but I can say that many mistakes I see people make in higher level languages tend to stem from not understanding what's happening behind the scenes.
Two great projects I think for anyone starting off in C/C++ to help learn are
Writing a function to parse an integer from a String Writing your own String class To be clear, I am NOT saying you should use your versions of those in production code, but writing those from scratch will teach you a lot.
 
Having experience in multiple languages will help you out a lot.  The next language I would recommend learning is JavaScript, both because it's a great introduction to scripting languages, and it's the de facto* standard for client side programming and web programming.  Additionally all you need to start learning it is a web browser and text editor (I recommend Notepad++).
 
Once you get familiar the basics of Javascript down, a great project to get yourself more familiar (and which is also a very realistic to the type of work you will do as a web developer) is to find some online service that has a Web API, and write code to interface with it.
 
Additionally, one of the most important things that I cannot state strongly enough is: Read.  The F@$#ing.  Documentation.  I cannot stand developers who insist on trying to do everything from memory.  Find sites that have the standard for your language, or documentation for whatever library you're working with.  Sites like W3Schools or CPlusPlus.com are great, because not only do they teach you, but also document many of the aspects of the language as well.
 
Finding the documentation should always be the first thing you do in any project.
 
 
 
 
 
 
* Yes, I know. Technically it's the de jure standard in this case.