New Learnings

Learning and Development

As a software engineer, growth hinges on three primary points: consuming knowledge, practice, and sharing insights. This cycle begins with learning new concepts through reading documentation, following tutorials, and experimenting with code. Meanwhile, applying this theoretical knowledge to practical applications is also essential. Then, the key is to share these learnings, whether through writing, like this blog, or communicating with or educating colleagues.

However, the sheer volume of technologies to learn can be overwhelming. Recognizing this, I’ve adopted a structured approach to make my learning journey more manageable and enjoyable.

Sharpen Your Focus

I’ve been using monthly focus topics in my new routine. Dedicating a month to a specific area, like Svelte, allows me to dive deep without feeling scattered. This method keeps my learning targeted and engaging. It allows me to dive deeper into well-known technologies like JavaScript, or scratch the surface of a topic that is completely new.

Moving from familiar territories to new horizons keeps the process refreshing, fun, and engaging. I’ve found that diversifying my learning materials, from books to live coding sessions, helps keep enthusiasm high. A month allows sufficient time for structured guidance - documentation, a tutorial, a book - and permits building a real-world project to help cement any guided learning. Spending a month on one dedicated project can also be great. It provides the ability to go a bit deeper on a subject and build something more substantial. You’ll be surprised how much you can get done in a month if you have the enthusiasm and that singular focus. I will be sharing more on what I have built in the coming months.

From Theory to Practice

The essence of building is to apply what I’ve learned in a tangible way, whether through personal projects or daily coding challenges. Setting a monthly focus really helps in allowing me to channel my efforts into meaningful development. I read and watch plenty of development resources, but at this point in time, I’d just like to be coding more, building more stuff, and becoming more familiar with writing code. This may not be the case all of the time. However, I think when you have those moments of enthusiasm and motivation to write code, learn and build stuff - you just have to ride the wave and embrace it! In doing that, I am trying to teach myself to simply enjoy the journey. In the past, I have become wrapped up in the long-term plan, the end goal, 5-year plans, and all the rest of it. I always learned and built using the tech that I was using in my day job. This definitely made side projects and learning less appealing… put bluntly, it felt like work, and I don’t want to work on the weekend! 😅 In short, I’ve concluded maybe it’s best to just enjoy the journey and worry less about the destination.

Sharing the Journey

Blogging serves as my platform to share and reflect. It’s a space where I can distill my thoughts, tackle technical challenges, and contribute to the community. This act of sharing not only reinforces my learning but makes me consider my view, thoughts, and opinions before I commit them.

Anyway, this is my new approach to things, which will no doubt be touched upon in future posts.