This advice is based on my:
- 4 years of professional Software Engineering career
- 8 years of hobbyist programming and buidling applications
- 100s of conversations with engineers and folks in tech
Table of contents
1. Don’t box yourself to a language or a framework2. Don’t get stuck in tutorial hell3. Communicate4. Upskill yourself properly5. Have a mentor 6. Join local Meetup groups7. Keep Yourself Updated
1. Don’t box yourself to a language or a framework
Every language is trying to become every other language. At the end of the day, each language is just a tool. Don’t think X or Y language is the best one. Pick any language and finish learning it. The time taken to learn your X+1 language is usually half of the time it took you to learn the X language.
Though picking a language that is easier to get started with can make the learning experience more fun. For example: Starting with JavaScript or Python is easier because their syntax is simple and you are able to make tangible real-world useful programs relatively quickly.
Once you get comfortable with either of them, you can explore slightly more complicated but helpful langues like C/C++ and Java.
A little bit of landscape for languages:
- Wanna build web apps: JavaScript or Django
- Wanna build embedded stuff: C/C++
- Wanna learn programming from the internals level: Start with C or Java
- Wanna build video games: JavaScript (Three.js), C# (Unity3D), C++ (Unreal Enginer)
Also, don’t limit yourself to a single language or a framework. Try not to call yourself a React.js Developer or a Java Developer.
Better way to frame it would be “I am a Software Engineer specialising in frontend with React.js”. It gives other people and you yourself a better impression that you know much more beyond than a single framework.
Love how Harley Ferguson, Founder at Origen Software, talked about this in his post:
You aren't writing code.You're solving problems. Coding is just the tool.So don't spend all your time thinking about the lines of code you need to write.Instead, invest time into understanding the problem and exploring other tools you can add to your toolbox.Then, tackle the problem with a fresh perspective.
2. Don’t get stuck in tutorial hell
Once you finish building 2-3 clone apps then you are good to go build an original idea or a side project or a clone without any tutorial guidance.
How you can go about it:
- Brainstorm an idea
- Figure out the exact requirements and what would the app look like
- Break it down in terms of frontend and backend
- Implement it
- Write documentation
- Launch it (on Twitter, LinkedIn, Product Hunt, etc.)
Doing all of this will give you the whole experience of working at a corporate or a startup.
That’s what we do day-in day-out:
- Get a problem statement without a lot of context
- Do research and brainstorm within the team
- Build a solution together
- Release it
- Repeat the cycle based on the results
- Maintain and monitor
Once you finish your course and build the projects included in your course:
- Go build a side project
- Apply for internships and jobs
- Participate in hackathons
- Try to contribute to open-source
Doing actual original work where you force yourself to think and write code by yourselves is when you actually learn. It’s not gonna be easy and you might fail in the first few attempts but this is the actual way to go and make real and significant progress in your professional journey.
3. Communicate
As engineers (or as students and early career professionals) we might be shy or introverted and just want to work in our silos, at least I did that a lot. Try to avoid that and communicate crisply with proper context as much as possible.
Whenever you are working on a project keep giving regular progress updates and tell your team members or manager if you have any blockers.
Ask for help. Asking for help politely and giving all proper context can go a long way to save time and build a bond with your team members.
Whatever you are learned or experimented with, share it on your company’s discussions channels to get yourself visibility and get conversations started.
4. Upskill yourself properly
Don’t get excited by every other new framework and go and learn its syntax. Rather take your time and explore the internals to see what really makes it different from existing options. Try to make a crude version of the framework itself.
Anybody can learn syntax and a bunch of topics of a new framework and call themself a XYZ Developer/Specialist. But as Software Engineers everything is just a tool for us. Explore the internals, the architecture, the optimisation techniques, etc. to actually grow yourself.
Explore System Design and DSA content to expose yourself with a range of strategies to tackle engineering problems.
Don’t keep yourself limited to your day job or your personal interests’ domains. Get out of your comfort zone and check out other domains too. If you are a web dev then go check out IoT projects. If you are a game developer then check out cyber security pertaining to games.
Explore intersections, expand your horizons.
5. Have a mentor
I was lucky to get a couple of mentors from my 1st job. Having a mentor is like having a really really knowledgeable friend who you can trust to share anything that is getting you bogged down and get actionable and useful advice.
Mentors can accelerate your learning journey by 2-5x. Try to find at least one solid mentor that you can talk to multiple times a month.
6. Join local Meetup groups
Meetup groups where a lot of developers gather to learn, network, and have fun are an awesome way to find senior people to learn from and get even internship or job opportunities. You will get to listen to awesome tech talks by people and have free pizzas and coke too.
I attended my first meetup when I was in high school. My brother took me to a Drupal meetup. I barely understood anything but at least hearing about different tools and topics got me curious and eventually I explored a lot of the tools and topics I heard in the meetup.
Even if you don’t understand stuff right now, dots connect and things click a little bit ahead in the future eventually.
7. Keep Yourself Updated
Join Tech Twitter. Join Hacker News. Follow the right people on social media groups. Check out the GitHub Trending page every once in a while.
All of these things help you to discover product launches, learning content, helpful repos and tools, and a lot of other things to help you save time, accelerate your career, and gain an edge.