Learning Vs. Application

Day 176 / 366

If you ask me how many years will it take someone to become a good software developer, I would say a lifetime. This is because software is a field where you need to keep learning, or else your skills will soon become irrelevant.

The first reason is that the technology evolves so quickly. I was telling my interns today how back in the day we used to build all webpages using tables. There was no flexbox or bootsrap. I started coding with Android app development. But whenever I took a break of even 6 months, before starting app development again I had to always look up books, tutorials, etc about the latest libraries and coding practices.

On the other hand, if you wait till you learn everything before you start building stuff, you will never be able to get any work done. What we need is a proper balance between the two.

This is how I usually teach coding. I would first ask the person to read a basic tutorial just so that they understand the bare minimum needed. Then I would ask them to start working on a project. While they work they can keep going back to tutorials to learn things they don't understand. Once you get a project done, go back to theory. Read a book or finish an online course. Because you already have some coding done, you will be able to understand the theory much better.

That is how you keep oscillating between learning and application if you want to continue growing as a software developer.