What to Learn in this New World
By: Nicolas Charlet
Tags: Learning And Development, Growth Mindset, Codingbootcamp, Coding, Technology

In a world of constant innovation, I find myself wondering what is the best stack to be learning at any one time? Last year I took part in a coding bootcamp in which I learned Ruby, Ruby on Rails (which I use on the backend when developing apps) and then Javascript and React (frontend). Knowing how to code has opened new frontiers for me. Not only has it made it possible for me to build web and mobile apps (react native) using these coding languages but it has opened the door towards being able to pick up new tech stacks with much less effort than before.

I am currently learning machine learning via a Stanford University online course taught by Andrew Ng. This has been fun and leverages a language that is computationally heavy called Octave. There is math involved too but luckily my mechanical engineering degree at Boston University had me learn a bunch of maths back then so today I feel pretty comfortable picking it up. Learning machine learning has been a lot of fun. I also think it’s incredibly cool that a teacher as reputable as Andrew Ng is available to students worldwide and for free!! Crazy!

Next on my list would be learning about blockchain technology on Udemy.com. I like Udemy as the courses are all rated and it gives you an easy indicator of which courses are worth your time and which are not. I love the ideas behind blockchain technology and tokenization and creating efficiencies in transactions. I’ve seen that a few of the courses are set up for you to follow along as they build out a blockchain app. What’s cool is that the other day I saw one of these code-along courses was based in Python. While Python is not yet a tech stack that I have under my belt I feel very confident picking it up, especially if in this case I am guided by someone who knows it well.

Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler recently released a book called The Future is Faster than you Think. The authors explore the increasing speed of technological innovation and how these different technologies are now starting to converge. It is a truly awe-inspiring read which I highly recommend for anyone who is living in our world today. I bring up this book because I am encouraged about our future. I am excited about the technology and what it will enable us to do as a society. At the same time I totally understand why some people fear the changes that are to come. The nature of work is changing. Our parents joined companies out of university and expected to stay for life. We are in a different situation. Innovation is changing how we do things. It is also accelerating this change.

My advice, my two cents, is to get comfortable with change, and the accelerating nature of the change. Be comfortable learning technology. Get curious. Buy Udemy courses, get on Coursera.com, buy LinkedIn courses on your specific fields of interest, read books, listen to Audible when you are on the move. Become an expert in whatever topics light your fire and pique your interest and curiosity. Instead of feeling like you are being left behind, decide to instead be part of this incredible technological revolution we are a part of. Become a disruptor.

Believe me, if I was able to learn how to become a software engineer, you are able to achieve anything you set your mind too. Get gritty, get stuck in. Enjoy the process. None of us are going anywhere so we might as well make the most of this new and continuously evolving world of ours.

Hope you found this useful.

Wishing you the best coding possible. Catch you next week.

Best,

Nick

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