Is your skill set out-dated?

(Ported from my old blog called Thinky)

In 2013 I realized how far I had fallen behind in the Software Development industry. There were buzz words flying around that I had never encountered before. A year later, I realized that many of those buzz words were of things that had existed for many years that could have made my life easier had I at least known about it.

It is not enough to go to work and solve the problems that you are paid to solve. You need to keep on top of the industry. Time and technology does not wait for us. The longer we develop software, the more “set in our ways” we become. I urge you to get out of your comfort zone, push yourself and “level up” daily.

Up skill

Challenge yourself. Find a technology you have not worked with before and learn more about it. Experiment with it. Make something with it. Build on it. Talk about it with your peers. Try learn something small everyday.

Practice writing code in your spare time.

Optimization

Identify constraints that you face each day and try to optimize them with technology where you can. This will improve your tech skills and perhaps even your team process and delivery. (Always ensure to consult your team before implementing something as it should be a team decision).

Investigate renowned patterns and practices like SOLID principles and Gang of Four (GOF) Design Patterns.

Share

Share your experiences with other developers. Set up or attend Lean Coffees, one-on-ones, demos or quick session-based talks. Blog about it. Share it on Social Media.

Mentorship

Don’t be afraid to mentor others and be mentored by others. We can learn so much from one other. Opinions are good as they provide insights to other perspectives. If you don’t agree, have constructive discussions motivating your thoughts and be open to feedback. Mentorship also teaches us soft skills like how to interact with people instead of just software.

Research

Try to keep up with the trends in the industry.

• Be part of one or more communities (Meetups)
• Find podcasts and webcasts that you can listen to or watch
• Subscribe to blogs
• Follow companies on Social Media
• Create a community inside your company and have workshops, demos and time-boxed discussions from time to time

How are you keeping your skill set current?