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Discussion on: I've been a programmer for over 20 years, watched the internet the grow up, ask Me Anything!

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mortoray profile image
edA‑qa mort‑ora‑y

How do I keep my skills up-to-date? I can't answer directly, let me try to explain.

Programming consists of a series of skills and concepts. There are specific skills, like Java, and more generic object-orient coding skills. One could know REST+HTTP and OracleDB, or one could understand network protocols, encoding, and relational DBs.

Once we remove all the marketing terms and fancy words, programming has advanced rather slowly and predictably. At some point I started understanding the underlying concepts. It takes less and less effort to adopt new technologies. I don't really need to keep up-to-date, as I can sit down with "new" tech and adapt quite quickly.

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jfrankcarr profile image
Frank Carr

I actually find new tech easier to learn than having to go back in time and learn/relearn old stuff like VB6 and PowerBuilder, especially when it involves maintaining legacy spaghetti code.