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Hey, you're welcome back to another series of my writing. My last article featured lessons learned from a failed interview and one of the lessons highlighted in the article is the need to self-improve as a developer by learning programming the right way. Yes, I know you're murmuring in your mind that given the hosts of programming materials online; is it possible for a developer to become obsolete in the developer world? Well, probably you've forgotten that the developer world is an ever-dynamic world, it's not the way of the shinobis; there are more than a lot of tools to execute just the same task.
I also have to acknowledge the fact that there are more than enough roadmaps on the internet on how to become whatever type of developer you aspire to become. But, most times, these maps only set you on the road, they don't check whether you obey the traffic rules or adopt the right practices. After digging introspectively into the developer world and performed an understudy on the way of the Devs, I've been able to come up with 7 golden laws that every developer must have as their girdle. Leggo
- Grow from Egg to Adult: The desire to get a job as a developer might be overwhelming thus leading to the tendency of taking shortcuts while learning programming fundamentals. Don't worry, you'll still come back and learn those arrow functions you dodged.
Do not be too overpowered or intimidated by the hosts of success stories flying around on the internet or the predicaments which pushed you into the desire to wanting to become a dev. Take your time to learn right and mature rightly.
Read Programming Books: The culture of reading books is atrophying at a pace that's really worrisome. Those brilliant youtube tutors you so reverence took their time to digest good programming books before emerging as the best amongst the rest. Would it harm your memory if you also try that path?
An adage says the best place to hide a secret from a generation is to keep it in books.
Z-Lib and Free PDF drive are still my favourite plugs for programming books.
Patronize programming blogs: The best way to keep up with the ever-dynamic developer world is to arm oneself with timely information about the cutting-edge changes in the developer world. Blogs like hashnode, hackerrank, medium and etc. will sharpen your mind about the latest trends in the developer world and how to hop on them.
Buy Good Courses: Yes, I know youtube is an ocean of programming materials. However, have you tasted what it feels like to possess ground-up knowledge? One thing that most developers fail to realize is that most videos on youtube are baits to the tutor's well-organized courses. Hence, it'll only take a developer who is both financially and mentally ready to realize that a piece of the jigsaw is amiss. Try to patronize your favourite tutors on whatever frameworks you're learning, it avails you the opportunity of being mentored and guided by them. Platforms like Futurelearn, Coursera , Udemy, Udacity and Brilliant.org have been dishing out goodness since the Adamic age.
Join a Developer Community: Nothing beats being in a company of like-minded people. If you're the kind of developer who just prefers to be introverted, I promise you may not know beyond the four corners of your room. Mind you, I said join "A" developer community, with emphasis on "A". Many developers end up joining myriads of communities because the names of the communities are trending and afterwards, they become the benchwarmers of the community. Start with a community, network, ask questions, showcase your projects, seek people's opinions about your project and also contribute your own quota of knowledge to the community. You can find communities on Twitter, Discord, Telegram, StackOverflow and a host of other platforms.
Collaborate on Projects: One of the most effective ways to self-improve as a developer is through engaging in real-life projects. After garnering all the knowledge there is to gather, kindly dash into a BootCamp, or a startup or think of an idea and approach a developer friend of yours that lives in the neighbourhood with you to enliven that idea. Exploiting the open source world will also buy you a lot of experience and recognition by potential recruiters. Join that Bootcamp, don't just duplicate youtube tutorials; think inside-out-the-box.
Volunteer at Tech Events: A whole lot of things have changed after the advent of Covid-19, now is the best time to leverage the power of volunteering to have access to the developers whom you're looking up to. Tech events or conferences often feature sapiens who have transitioned beyond mere mortals into idols that the world focuses upon. It isn't an aberration to engage them and sell capabilities. Imagine including in your resume that you volunteered at an event where your employer was a special guest of honour, your employer wouldn't think twice before putting you on their radar.
Becoming that developer or software engineer that your mind so much yearns for requires you to jettison some habits and ensure that the 7 swords of a developer highlighted in this article are heartily followed alongside some of your good personal habits too. My comment box yearns for what you feel might be missing or unnecessary in this delicacy. Thanks for engaging.