I have noticed that there are infinite resources to get you started as a beginner, but rare ones that define advanced topics that can help you level up and reach a senior level.
There is some sort of unwritten agreement that you have to learn advanced topics the hard way through your work experience, but some developers are not lucky enough to be subjected to the right challenges that might help them grow. How do you educate yourself?
Great question!
I also have asked myself the same question many times! And it is true that work experience has a major impact on building up your skills.
E.g. if I want to be a back-end developer and at the beginning of my career and I get to work in a new project. The team is great, feedback is constructive, I get to see and understand various trade-offs in the design of the architecture & choosing different frameworks/technologies, seniors developers act as mentors, etc. Working in such an environment no doubt accelerates your growth.
But what if that is not the experience you are getting at your workplace. I think in such cases the important thing is to identify where you want to focus. Do you want to be a back-end, front-end, UI designer, UI Developer, etc? If you want to be a front-end dev, what does is it mean to be a front-end dev?
For me, I wasn't clear which path I wanted to take at the beginning of my career. I kept learning whatever came in my path and whichever tech was popular. It was really haphazard. Personally, if I had to do that all over again I would choose the area I want to grow in and focus on getting my basics right. E.g. for back-end it could be algorithms, OS basics, etc and for front-end, it could be getting the fundamentals of JavaScript right, CSS basics like box-model, etc.
Once you have the direction then understand the concepts and make sure you implement it in a side-project or at work. Also, I cannot emphasize the importance of participating in tech discussions or events (online or physically) enough.
I hope it helps! Thank you for asking!
bunny cresh
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