This is a supply side issue. The demand for product delivery is massive now, and the end users are super smart. They want new features to run as smoothly as Facebook, Google, or Amazon which means we in the trenches need to learn how to keep pace.
In the developer market there are plenty of suppliers that make things worse. They introduce new things which are purchased and of which we may eventually have to learn. The world is highly complex and requires a lot of knowledge, so much that it's impossible to keep pace.
So we have to narrow our focus by watching trends. For example today there are only three trends for tomorrow.
The cloud
React
GraphQL
Cloud
The Cloud is a disrupter. It changes everything we knew. Just look at microservices, they require no server configuration we have to worry about. They are instantly scalable upward and outward. Say good bye to the traditional back-end Rest Service.
React
Is super fast lightweight, easy to understand and works perfectly everyday on FaceBook. Yes there are others, but React is the winner.
GraphQL
The SQL peak years have been met. GraphQL is the new kid on the block. It's best suited for web sites, ecommerce, etc. JSON is king today.
Guard your Time
We must be laser focused on what we are learning. If the job environment doesn't allow that, then we have to do it ourselves. We have to be relentless to kind-of-sort-of get there.
By choosing one of the three techs listed above, we are pretty much ensured anything we add to that knowledge space is going to live on for a few years. By staying focused we don't wind up losing years of work in something that's dead today.
Environment
Most Agile teams today recognize the knowledge deficits but I have yet to see any time built into any sprint for that reason alone. Instead the expected part delivery is whittled down. What helps us the most is to deliver only what we see on a user story and not to create tasks as we discover new things not asked for or implemented.
Keeping things simple for a senior software engineer is hard, because their minds are wired into super complex solutions of the past. They are predisposed to always offer up elegant in-depth solutions when in fact they weren't a requirement.
Over Expectations
Today the Senior Software Engineer doesn't only need to know three or four languages, they also need to know the entire pipeline from start to finish, which includes the Cloud. Obviously we can't get there overnight but we can do our best to continuously improve. Our laser focus gets us there more quick as we steer things to what we know is the best of class for today.
Being continually persistent does get us there and there's no substitute for that. Experts don't get that way by being a unicorn. They know just a few things extremely well.
We can control our environments to a good degree by choosing work of interest within the confines our our jobs. If your jobs are sailing in a different direction, then we can find new work.
Hey, why don't you write a post and describe these points in detail? Honestly, I'd love to read more of what you have to say, especially the things you said here.
My boss asked me to create a presentation and a lecture to educate my colleagues on how to keep up with technology. I've spent less time on the material telling them how to keep updated and more of my presentation is focused towards knowing what to learn that best suit their goals and make them employable.
Literally each day, there is a new framework or library coming out. NPM competitor, snowpack and other such b*st. I'm honestly frustrated and I'm taking break from learning anything new.
This is a supply side issue. The demand for product delivery is massive now, and the end users are super smart. They want new features to run as smoothly as Facebook, Google, or Amazon which means we in the trenches need to learn how to keep pace.
In the developer market there are plenty of suppliers that make things worse. They introduce new things which are purchased and of which we may eventually have to learn. The world is highly complex and requires a lot of knowledge, so much that it's impossible to keep pace.
So we have to narrow our focus by watching trends. For example today there are only three trends for tomorrow.
Cloud
The Cloud is a disrupter. It changes everything we knew. Just look at microservices, they require no server configuration we have to worry about. They are instantly scalable upward and outward. Say good bye to the traditional back-end Rest Service.
React
Is super fast lightweight, easy to understand and works perfectly everyday on FaceBook. Yes there are others, but React is the winner.
GraphQL
The SQL peak years have been met. GraphQL is the new kid on the block. It's best suited for web sites, ecommerce, etc. JSON is king today.
Guard your Time
We must be laser focused on what we are learning. If the job environment doesn't allow that, then we have to do it ourselves. We have to be relentless to kind-of-sort-of get there.
By choosing one of the three techs listed above, we are pretty much ensured anything we add to that knowledge space is going to live on for a few years. By staying focused we don't wind up losing years of work in something that's dead today.
Environment
Most Agile teams today recognize the knowledge deficits but I have yet to see any time built into any sprint for that reason alone. Instead the expected part delivery is whittled down. What helps us the most is to deliver only what we see on a user story and not to create tasks as we discover new things not asked for or implemented.
Keeping things simple for a senior software engineer is hard, because their minds are wired into super complex solutions of the past. They are predisposed to always offer up elegant in-depth solutions when in fact they weren't a requirement.
Over Expectations
Today the Senior Software Engineer doesn't only need to know three or four languages, they also need to know the entire pipeline from start to finish, which includes the Cloud. Obviously we can't get there overnight but we can do our best to continuously improve. Our laser focus gets us there more quick as we steer things to what we know is the best of class for today.
Being continually persistent does get us there and there's no substitute for that. Experts don't get that way by being a unicorn. They know just a few things extremely well.
We can control our environments to a good degree by choosing work of interest within the confines our our jobs. If your jobs are sailing in a different direction, then we can find new work.
Hey, why don't you write a post and describe these points in detail? Honestly, I'd love to read more of what you have to say, especially the things you said here.
My boss asked me to create a presentation and a lecture to educate my colleagues on how to keep up with technology. I've spent less time on the material telling them how to keep updated and more of my presentation is focused towards knowing what to learn that best suit their goals and make them employable.
Literally each day, there is a new framework or library coming out. NPM competitor, snowpack and other such b*st. I'm honestly frustrated and I'm taking break from learning anything new.
Sounds good I'll post something soon.
First post for you
Damn! Thanks man!
Ok there are now two post in the series, that's enough for 6 months to 1 year of direction. Good Luck to you and stay in touch.