In a world where users constantly change how they interact with technology, where break-through technologies are only ever a few months a way, and where new JavaScript frameworks pop up almost daily, one of the best things we can do as developers is to constantly learn.
Whether that means learning a brand new language, how to follow a different coding pattern, how to use the latest DevOps tools, or something else entirely, it's important that we find ways to build continuous learning into our lives.
I've already written about something I do everyday to keep me learning, but I'm curious to hear from the dev community...
What habits or techniques do you use to continuously learn new skills?
Top comments (9)
Find questions you don't know the answer to, then work out the answer. Help people solve problems you haven't solved before. Find things that are broken, things beyond your immediate area of expertise, that others don't have the time to fix and lend a hand.
Leave your comfort zone and get used to being out of your element.
I really like the idea of helping others to help you learn, such a powerful way to learn!
Well I use:
Ebooks from noscratch, manning, ect.
Udemy
Google
Podcasts
API documentation
...
As my primary information to get to know what's changing and try to incorporate cool stuffs in my daily work.
Udemy was a Godsend for me, I found it when they were having one of their $10 course sales and ended up buying like 25 courses lol. Still working my way through them but I can say it is by far one of the best online course sites I've found!
As far as podcasts go, do you have any recommendations?
I've tried a few but always found them to be either to specific/technical for me to comprehend while I’m driving, or too general to the point where I felt like I wasn't really learning anything. Would love to find something down the middle!
Currently I try out some from github.com/rShetty/awesome-podcasts but I did not find any where I stuck.
With Udemy I also currently reducing the number of unwatched courses I have.
Thanks! I'll check out the list
Submitting to google and surrendering my privacy has the unexpected benefit of getting shown interesting projects I can learn from.
Haha I know exactly what you mean!
Yes couldn't agree more! If you're always willing to take on a challenge you'll never stop learning, it's when you get stuck in doing things "the right way" over and over again that technology passes you by!