How to update your technical skills and your digital products
By: Ivana Yael Currá
Tags: Coding, Coding Style, Improvement, Digital, Digital Transformation

Photo by Roman Synkevych on Unsplash

It is public knowledge that new technologies are coming to market all the time.

These new technologies generate many changes, but one of the most seen changes at the computer science level is the evolution and adaptation of programming languages.

Since the first ENIAC coding system was created in 1943, countless languages ​​were developed. Today there are +300 programming languages. Each one changing day by day. There are so many paths and so many alternatives to code. How is it possible to stay ahead? and more important still. How to develop software for a client that can stay ahead?

These are my recommendations based on my knowledge and generated papers related to the code and growth of companies.

1. Master the basis of the web

Having so many languages, it would never be possible, nor in all your life, to even know them all. So you have to choose a learning path and follow it. But which one to choose?

My recommendation is to always learn and update the basis, according to the modifications of the W3C. The W3C is in charge of generate recommendations and standards that ensure the growth of the World Wide Web in the long term.

Current W3C recommendations are simple: master JavaScript algorithms and data structures and become a professional front-end developer at first. Then move to other one code language you like.

There are free courses and even a paid professional certificate for that. You can check it in the next link down below.

2. Choose your own adventure … or better more than one adventure.

Once you can manage front-end, you can choose the language that you like to follow.

The statistics of language use varies a lot depending on which website makes the measurement, according to the data available. Based on my experience and knowledge, whether a language is used or not depends on:

a. The technology that the client uses or is willing to use, even if they do not have it.

When several technologies must interact with each other, it is necessary to carry out an in-depth approach to architecture to determine the most optimal to use.

b. The time for which the product must be in use.

Since the learning curve of a programming language, as well as its implementation, is not the same for everyone.

c. How much money is a client (or you) are willing to invest in a product.

Since there are more expensive and cheaper technologies. Some of them are proprietary and expensive, like dotNET and free to use, like Java.

Some of you also think about the environment, since there are many languages ​​that depend on the type of hardware or operating system currently running, but increasingly, the source code is being able to run on more operating systems and more hardware without modifying it. It is only a matter of time before the market adopts this as “normal”.

So decide carefully. It is possible to take more than one path at a time.

3. Go to the official documentation.

As my experience, many people skip this part. They launch directly into the internet tutorials. However, much of the official documentation allows you to understand the why of what is done and not just what is done as in the tutorials.

So after choosing the language, look for the official documentation and do a comprehensive reading.

4. Do (or even make) tutorials

Do lots of tutorials until you don’t need them. You can use the officials, like the unofficial ones. There are many on social networks, tech groups, learning pages all over the internet.

5. If you get stuck, talk to the gurus and ask your questions online.

No matter what the problem is, it is very certain that someone has happened the same thing or something very similar to you programming.

Find the representatives of these technologies, the gurus, and ask them for advice online. Don’t be shy. The vast majority are willing to help if you ask your questions or problems appropriately.

You can also go to websites that collect error information and seek help or go to workshops in your country about that code technology to find people with the same interests and get some answers.

6. Get feedback of your code and the product

Feedback is very important. All criticisms, even bad critiques, serve to learn and improve the code.

Publish the code and / or take the code to customers, your coworkers or classmates and show them what you do. Let them test your code and pay close attention to their gestures and anything they tell you. All this can help you improve what you have already done or create something new.

7. Repeat everything and keep moving forward.

Every time you want to update a framework, a code version, start a new sprint … do it all over again.

The bases are updated according to new good practices or companies release new versions of code from time to time, when a new phase of the product begins it is necessary to take what has been learned and continue.

Always repeat the steps and always continue, with the accumulated knowledge.