DEV Community

Cover image for The Reality of Roadmaps 🗺️

The Reality of Roadmaps 🗺️

Ijay on June 30, 2026

Do roadmaps actually help people learn? I am not sure. Because the first time I saw one, it did the exact opposite. I remember opening a DevO...
Collapse
 
prakirth profile image
Prakirth Govardhanam

This is very realistic! You greatly emphasized that iterative learning with healthy breaks must be the actual roadmap.
I currently have 2 roadmaps which is basically one following a handbook and the other (roadmap.sh) as a checklist to verify along the way what I learnt :)

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

I really like that approach. Using roadmaps as a checklist instead of trying to follow them from top to bottom makes a lot of sense. I think that's probably the best way to use a roadmap.

Thank you for reading. 💖

Collapse
 
vidakhoshpey22 profile image
Vida Khoshpey

Wow it was so good even design 😍💪🏻 let me follow you
Interesting

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

Thank you for reading. 💖

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

I am curious. Has a roadmap ever helped you, or did it make you feel more overwhelmed when you first saw it?

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

What is one topic you saw on a roadmap that made you think, "There is no way I am ever going to understand this"?

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

Did you follow a roadmap exactly, or did your learning end up taking a different path?

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

What is one thing you spent weeks avoiding on a roadmap, only to realize later it was not as scary as you thought?

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

Has a roadmap ever genuinely helped you, or did it mostly make you feel like there was more to learn?

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

I cannot be the only one who has downloaded multiple roadmaps and still felt confused.

How many roadmaps have you saved over the years?

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

One thing I did not include in the newsletter is how much time I spent looking for the "perfect" roadmap instead of just learning. Looking back, that probably slowed me down more than anything else.

Collapse
 
ijay profile image
Ijay

The funny part is that every roadmap looks clean and organized. Real learning rarely feels that way.