Slashdot Mirror
Taking Your Programming Skills to the Next Level?
An anonymous reader asks: "About 6 years ago I graduated with a degree in Computer Science. Since that time I've been working on and off as a programmer, however I feel that my programming skills haven't really progressed to the next level as I had hoped. I guess part of the problem is that my work environment hasn't been especially technical or challenging, so I really need to try and improve my skills independently. What strategies did Slashdot readers use to improve their programming skills Which books are useful in this area?"
Practice. Learn a new language, just for fun. To do so, program a new application to do something useless that has been nagging you for months.
If your current job isn't challenging you, then get out of it now. Do not delay.
All you are doing is painting yourself into a corner skills-wise that is going to get harder and harder to get out of later. The longer you're doing this basic stuff, the rustier and rustier all the real actual knowledge you got out of your degree is becoming.
Employers don't want rusty people, they want people with skills already.
Get out now.
NZ Electronics Enthusiasts: Check out my Trade Me Listings
Typically, you have to rescue a kings daughter or defeat a marauding ogre that has been terrorizing the townsfolk. That's how I got to be a level 9 Programmer, although the +2 keyboard, +3 against fire elementals, does help. If I take it to the next level, I get an enchanted chair.
there is no need to sign your posts. this isn't usenet. your username is right there above your post. stop it.
Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
but have you considered helping on a open source project? Depending on the project (and yourself) you could learn a lot. It being a real project with a real team, etc, should sufficiently motivate you.
As for books, pick up K&R & read it, work the execrises, repeat.
Best of luck.
...No seriously. If you join an IT department where you're the "big fish in a small pond" people will start to notice, they'll give you the tough jobs (note: NOT read as "fun" or "challenging") and because the rest of the IT department is crap they'll pile it on and I mean it. If you find the right place (i.e. the worst place) they'll stack it up and then slam you for not getting it all done sooner.
Instead of sinking under all that work, it will become you're motivation to raise your game and plow on through. You'll find new techniques to get work done, you'll learn to identify the patterns that get work done in the department and you'll invent new processes out of those patterns. When you start to succeed, you'll master your job and maybe a programming language or two.
Then when you're feeling confident about your skills, QUIT that job and go join a firm with a good reputation, knowing full well you're ready to play with the big boys.
But seriously, don't go searching for a book or learning material. Search for MOTIVATION. It's through motivation that we test how much weight we can pull and it's motivation that will select the subjects that we want to study the most.
Height: 38U, Weight: 0 Newtons, Eyes: #0000FF, OS: Gray Matter 1.0 (Alpha)
White programmer needs Dew badly.
- Code bashers - these are people who bash out endless lines of cobol (probaly VB nowadays) with no real feel for the craft
- Hippies - Hippies write good code badly. Once the problem of how to code this task is resolved they lose interest so the actual transformation of the concept to the written code is poorly executed
- Nerds - Nerds write bad code very well. Nerds become obsessed with particular techniques and will use that techniqu whether it is relevant or not. However their attention to detail means that the code is well executed
Looks like you, like me, are a hippie under these definitions.init 11 - for when you need that edge.
Not having had the advantage of a formal education (I have a GED and otherwise I am self taught) I've had to resort to, in some cases, drastic means of career as well as technical information acquisition. I have found the following to be consistently true.
1. You are rarely given additional responsibility (i.e. new projects, new technologies, "hard" stuff) at a job without first proving that you can do it. This usually involves doing things that "aren't my job" without getting paid for it for a certain amount of time and then being your own advocate after the fact. No one deserves anything on their own word. Find new things going on at work and put yourself square in the middle of it. Nothing interesting going on? Start analyzing the development process and environment and propose ways of making it better (and ofter to execute said plan).
2. Read. A lot. I highly recommend O'Reilly's Safari Bookshelf thingie. Some people don't like to read on line and prefer "real" books. I think that's cool, but you can't let that be a reason why you don't read. If you can't afford to buy all the new tech books you want to read, get a library card. Live in some strange place with no libraries? Find a way. You will if you want it.
3. Read non-technical articles and resources about the development process, software design and architecture, intergration methods. You know, "sciencey" type stuff. I find that I like certain authors more than others. For instance, Martin Fowler (http://www.martinfowler.com/) is the author of many excellent books and is known for his work in design patterns and architecture. If you read nothing else, read his work. Remember there's a much bigger world than writing guest book "scripts" 10,000 times (and thank insert-deity-here that's true).
4. Talk to other people. Anyone. Everyone. Project managers, developers, system administrators, architects, analysts, QA folk, telco employees, and anyone else that will give you the time of day. Learn what they do, how they do it, why they do it that way, and how it effects what you do and why. You'll have a much better understanding of distributed computing if you understand network and security principals and how they apply (and you might just not open up yet another SQL inject bug because of it).
5. Commit yourself to improving your craft by practicing it. Constantly. I find that being involved in open source development is 100% free peer reviewed experiance. Additionally, the open source work I've done in the past has won me a job or two. You never know when you might meet someone important to advancing your life.
6. Consider everyone you meet a student who may benefit from you, but more importantly, a teacher no matter how much smarter you think you are. Discuss, debate, learn, integrate new knowledge, repeat.
7. Find a mentor. Someone willing to take you under their wing (whether they know it or not) and soak information from them like a sponge. Don't know one? That's why I said *find* one. Very few people learn things themselves. Most people are taught by others, if by written or spoken word, code, IRC, or otherwise. I can't stress the mentor thing enough. Find two. Three is better. Find mentors that don't agree with one another and compare ideas. Learn from everyone.
This is what has worked for me. I dropped out of high school, got a GED ("good enough diploma"), and got really lucky in meeting the people I did. I do software architecture and design for a living in addition to mentoring and "grooming" developers. I learn more from them in a single day than I learned from any book (give or take).
Good luck. If you're trying to figure out why you aren't where you want to be or why you haven't attained what you want, you're already a step ahead of everyone else. You'll be fine.