Title: Coding Dinosaurs

Author: Martin Moene

Date: 12 July 2015 21:40:44 +01:00 or Sun, 12 July 2015 21:40:44 +01:00

Summary: Pete Goodliffe aims to outlive the jurassic coding age.

Body: 

In a recent interview for a well-known website, I was asked a number of practical questions about the art and craft of programming. One of the questions struck a chord with me, and seems particularly interesting for the programmer who cares about ‘becoming better’.

The technologies we work with are constantly changing and it’s all too easy to find yourself becoming something of a ‘coding dinosaur’. What can programmers do to ensure that they keep learning and developing their skills?

I found this a particularly interesting question, since right now I’m learning new stuff that isn’t necessarily strictly about coding. I’m learning how to manage teams and projects, and make sound higher-level technical decisions. This, like learning the gritty details of code, is fun. But it’s a different type of fun.

More akin to the type of fun you can have herding stubborn cats.

My current focus very specifically takes me away from the learning of new code techniques, the stuff I love. I can still wield my familiar coding tools well, and I use them regularly. But I don’t have the same time to invest in learning about them.

Am I in danger of becoming that dinosaur?

As a programmer, as in any other field, in order to avoid stagnation you have to take conscious, deliberate action. You will not avoid stagnation by doing nothing. Doing nothing is the very act of stagnating.

In order to improve, you must make a conscious effort. you won’t learn by accident.

If you care about improving your skills, if you care about becoming better, then you must specifically set aside time to learn, and time to perform deliberate practice, the kind of directed, specific learning that is more thoughtful and more productive than mere ‘playing with stuff’. Good examples are to invest time learning new technologies, and trying them out, and to performing code katas that reinforce your existing knowledge and help you build up your skills.

If you do not have a specific plan of action to do this, you may very well never get around to learning! If you don’t intend to invest time, you may quickly find yourself swept up in the details of what you already know, working your day job, whilst the techie world moves on around you.

For me personally, I currently have a plan in place to:

• Read a couple of new techie books I’ve purchased, one on software archaeology, and one on learning new languages. I chose these two topics specifically as things that will focus me on learning important new ideas. (I love carrying a physical book around with me to dip into when I’m on a train.)
• Subscribe to a podcast about C++, to keep abreast of new ideas in the language I am most familiar with.
• Spend an hour or two at least one evening a week playing with an entirely new language, just to begin to learn the way it works. This isn’t reading about it, this is physically writing some code. Of course, in such a time I’ll never learn the intricacies of the language. I’ll barely even scratch the surface. But it will inevitably expose me to new ideas that will teach me.

That’s my specific plan. It’s not too taxing, but it’s also enough to encourage me to keep learning.

What’s your plan?

Do you have a specific plan for learning new coding skills? How do you ensure that you stick to this plan? If you don’t have a learning plan, consider creating one right now!

Ultimately, the very desire to avoid becoming a ‘coding dinosaur’ is the key thing. You must stoke your passion for coding. As soon as you feel it’s boring or old-hat, you’ll have no desire to improve, and no motivation to learn more.

That’s where stagnation happens.

I find that my passion wanes when I am no longer learning, and operate out of what I already know.

The techie world doesn’t move so fast that your skills will lose relevance overnight. However, if you don’t pay attention to continuously learning, and invest directed effort, you can easily begin to slide out of usefulness.

Questions

1. How much attention do you pay to directed, specific learning?
2. Are you particularly worried about becoming a coding dinosaur?
3. Does your daily programming job require you to learn new stuff constantly? If not, why not? And how might you weave more learning into your tasks?

Notes: 

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