Current Learning Schedule 📖

There are certain elements I have decided to focus on for the next few months:

• Projects 💻

  • This is widely covered by my current role and the internal projects I contribute to. Tasks vary from designing and provisioning cloud infrastructure (including networking etc.) to designing and programming full stack applications. Although working on further projects outside of work would certainly not be detrimental per se, I find I need to implement time differently in order not to approach burnout.

• Certifications 🎓

  • I've read extensive criticism of certifications and I've been attacked (some tech people seem to take themselves way too seriously) myself for pursuing them. Coming from a non-traditional background means I have gaps in my knowledge and, so far, certifications have been quite helpful in filling some of these. I've identified a number of CompTIA ones that will help me with my next goals:
    • Project+
    • A+
    • Network+
    • Security+

• Improving my JavaScript knowledge 👨‍💻

  • Project-based learning should, in my opinion, always take precedence. As that part is already covered, I don't find it counterproductive to go deeper into the language and improve my ability to write clean and tidy code. I'm not into the Data Structures and Algorithms part of my studies yet, so I haven't really explored LeetCode too much. I used to practice on Codewars but I always disliked its UI and found it a bit too disjointed. At this stage, I've chosen Exercism for my goals. I love how the website is structured and styled, and I very much like the community built around it. The founders' mission also resonates with me.

• Mentoring 👨‍🏫

  • I'm not an expert, I don't feel like one. Nonetheless, I think I have learned a thing or two, both in terms of hard and soft skills, and I'd love to share these with others. Mentoring, at this stage, has more of a horizontal-communal essence for me, rather than a strictly vertical-hierarchical one. The aforementioned Exercism offers a mentoring feature, acting like a sort of enhanced code review between programmers. This is very appealing to me, considering I work mostly alone, so I've decided to try my hand at it, regardless of how insecure about it I feel. At some point, I hope to be good enough to provide more substantial mentoring and support to up-and-coming programmers.

Stuff of the day ✅

• Completed two challenges on Exercism. One dealing with Prototypes and Classes, another one with Sets. I didn't struggle with the concepts, but after reviewing one of my solutions and comparing it with some of the ones shared in the community, I realised mine was unnecessarily verbose. I felt quite disappointed with my skills, but I guess if it doesn't hurt, then you're not growing. No pain, no gain uh?

• About to study my daily one or two chapters for the CompTIA Project+ exam. Currently going through Jason Dion's Udemy course. I'd like to elaborate more about certifications, but I feel that deserve its own post later.

• Read a few interesting articles shared by the community:

  • The Dual Nature of Seniority in Software Development
  • How I track long running goals
  • The Truth About AI's Impact on Software Development Jobs
  • Advice to the young