As a junior developer or a beginner, you surely have a lot to learn, and if you are working, then you are forced, on a daily basis, to learn new techniques, new functions and new ways to overcome problems.
When I first started working as a junior web developer, I used to work from 9:00 AM till 6:00 PM, but usually I used to stay a bit longer than 6:00 PM to further advance in my work and secure my position in the company. But I had little time to read books or to learn new things.
Then, one day I had a discussion with one of the senior developers. He told me that every evening, after he goes home from work, he reads articles about new technologies and any other work related topic. He used to work from 8:00 AM till 8:00 PM in average.
Knowing that every day he came before me to work and every day he stayed longer at work, far after I was back home, and the fact that he was married with 2 kids, while I was a single guy living alone, I couldn't stop asking myself : how can he find time to read every day? Why would he spend that much time on reading while he can relax and unwind?
For many years, that is exactly what I did. I worked during the day, I had fun in the evening. No reading whatsoever.
In the programming world, web or other programming, experience is everything. Time will teach you more than the best instructor. And time taught me, that although we should always unwind and have fun after work, but if you are willing to have a successful career in programming, you'll need to learn how to love learning!
Learning shouldn't be regarded at as a hassle. Learning should be your friend. Let's face it, YOU HAVE TO DO IT! But don't feel bad about it. In the contrary, you will be happy to learn, because constant learning, even if it is for 15 minutes per day, will boost your confidence and raise your value among your peers.
I wouldn't recommend learning after work for more than an hour, unless you are genuinely having fun doing it.
One good advice that same senior developer gave me was to always rest your mind after a long day at work. A tired brain is not a programming brain. It will not be able to create code. Coding is creation and imagination, you'd need a calm and relaxed brain for that. But also, you need to feed it knowledge at a daily basis, so you can expand its imagination and creativity.
All us developers, doesn't matter what level we are at, we all know what we should improve, what we should learn from scratch and what is going to take us to the next level. We just have to do it, day after day, until we reach that place in our careers.
Remember though, the programming world is as big as you can imagine. There's endless things to learn in it. You don't need to learn it all. You only take what you need to deliver A class software/apps.
Each day you'd read for 1 hour is a success! Feel good about yourself! Feel that creativity box in your head leveling up. Boost your confidence. After all, in one hand, time will give you experience, and in the other hand, your constant learning, over time, will boost your confidence, and with both, you will always find a job and you will be on your way for greatness!
Top comments (3)
As an intern, my friend. I was accepted as an intern. I worked very hard and kept proving to my teammates that I was worth keeping.
Seven months later, boom! I was hired as a web developer.
That's amazing. It's a pity that some people don't like to learn about concepts, good practices and tendencies and think that don't need to got this, because know sufficiently about it.
I think guidance plays a huge role in it. Someone, along the way, should guide you to the right path, and if you are a developer, it better be sooner than later.