As an early-career developer, I often find myself torn between going deeper in technologies I already know (like Java, Python, SQLite) or exploring advancing tech such as AI, Rust, or modern cloud-native tools.
In a field that evolves so rapidly, how do YOU decide where to focus your learning energy?
- Do you prioritize deepening your current skill set or branch out into new areas?
- Do you set your own learning goals or let project demands and industry trends guide your path?
I'd love to hear from professionals across all areas of computer science.
Top comments (2)
At the outset of my career, I learned the things that I had to learn in order get my foot in the door. Somewhere. Anywhere. I knew someone working for a small business automation shop that used VB6 and MS Access (ew, I know).
Once I was actually getting paid for it and beginning to build equity in professional software development, I turned my gaze towards somewhere I wanted to be. I looked at the path of least resistance from where I was (which turned out to be ASP.NET and better back end systems SQL server at the time, which was not an insurmountable leap from what I was already doing). It wasn't quite what I wanted to do, but it was where I wanted to be.
Once I got into where I wanted to be, I targeted what I wanted to do in that place (lateral moves are typically far easier than being a fresh hire). That led me down the path of ActionScript (again, ew I know) and C/C++. I did that for a number of years.
From there, it was picking up new languages and roles I was interested in along the way. Sometimes one was more of a factor than the other. I also found the open source community, which when contributed to, can be a huge factor in both bredth and depth of knowledge.
I pay attention to industry trends but I don't go squirrel-chasing (i.e. a new job every 6 months because of trends). I keep abreast of new technologies, but naturally deepen my current skill set because it's what I do on a daily basis.
Thank you for sharing your journey. It's inspiring to see how naturally yet adaptive your career evolved without getting caught up in every emerging trend. I think there's a lot of pressure early on to immediately dive into the "hot" technologies like AI or blockchain, but your story is a great reminder that long-term growth often comes from playing the long game and making thoughtful, progressive moves.
I found it really insightful how you identified the next logical step from your current skill set (transitioning from MS Access to ASP.NET). It's helping me realize that instead of leaping into something completely new, I can explore related-areas to what I already know, like moving from Java/Python into backend microservices or DevOps.
And your point about deepening skills through daily work really hit home. It's easy to overlook how much growth can come from just pushing boundaries of what we're already doing.
Thanks again for your response. It's given me a much clearer perspective on how to approach my learning path.