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082 How Do I Get Consistent Growth As A Developer? · DevQuestions with Tim Corey

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Dev Questions Podcast with Tim Corey.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: Join us each episode as we tackle the questions you are asking about a career in software development, understanding the industry, and new technology.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you're just starting out or you want to grow stronger as a developer, this is the place to get your questions answered.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now, here's your host, expert developer and online educator, Tim Corey.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: How do I get consistent growth as a developer?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you feel like you're just not consistently growing.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you grow in spurts, but then it feels like you cool off and you don't go anywhere.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about that in today's episode of Dev Questions.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get consistent growth?
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes you feel like you hit a plateau where you've learned a lot, but then you know there's more to learn and you just can't get to that next level.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you feel like you just kind of stay where you're at for a while.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you you hit a topic and you feel like I just can't get past this topic.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: How do you get past that?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe you just get stuck in a rut at work where you are doing the same things over and over again.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: You're not learning anything new.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do we get consistent growth as a developer so you move past these hard times, past these difficult spots where learning isn't coming as easily, or you're not as empowered to learn, or whatever?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, let's talk about a few ways that you can get past a learning rut or you know, plateau and get to consistent growth as a developer.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Because consistent growth as a developer is really important.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: You want to continue growing because the language continues to grow, the industry continues to grow, the situations you'll be um shown at work or exposed to are gonna be more and more complex or different, and you need to be able to grow and adapt to them rather than being left behind.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, number one, you need to know where you're going.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I've said this before, but when you're getting from going from point A to point B, knowing the direction you're going and knowing the route to get there is really important.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you are just wandering around, you're not gonna as easily get where you need to be.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so knowing that you need to hit these stops, or in this case, these learning topics as you go, that's important because now you know exactly what to do to get where you're going.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Knowing where you're going really helps you keep that enthusiasm for learning as well.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because let's say you have 500 things on your learning path, not uncommon.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you're at number one right now, you're just starting off.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you don't look at number 500 and go, man, I'm not there yet.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: What you look at is number 10 and say, Man, I can't wait to get there.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you get to number 10, you celebrate, and then you know exactly what to do next.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so that continued snowball of effort keeps you going, knowing that you're making progress and looking back and saying, Hey, I've learned 10 things, or I've learned 20 things, I've now learned 50 things, and that can be encouraging rather than just knowing I know what the end goal is, I know I'm not anywhere close to that, and I'm not even sure where how I'm gonna get there.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: That can be discouraging.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So know where you're going.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, train consistently.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: So put your learning on the calendar.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that people often um don't do.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: And what happens instead is you learn in spurts.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so you get really enthusiastic to learn, you're gonna spend a weekend just diving deep into something, and then you don't touch anything for a month.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And just like going to the gym, that doesn't really work that well for developers either.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're going to the gym, the best way to build up your muscles, build up your endurance, build up your uh ability to just be able to continue working out is to go week after week, day after day, or every couple of days and have that consistency of I am gonna continue to do this on a consistent pattern that makes sense.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: So once a month, not so great, but maybe twice a week, three times a week, that's great.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now you have a consistent pattern that you are doing that will help build up your mental muscles.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: So having that consistency will help you not just learn the topics you want to learn quicker, but it's also going to give you that long-term ability to more easily learn topics because you're in the groove of learning.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that training over with consistency is important.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, practice.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Practice, practice, practice.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: I harp on this a lot when I'm teaching.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's an it's true.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things that separates the people who are learning from the people who want to learn but just can't seem to is the practice.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Just do it, just get in there, write some practice projects.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: They do not have to actually accomplish anything other than allow you to practice.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Don't use excuses like, well, I'm not sure which application to build.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Don't build applications, just build enough to practice the topic.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: The example here would be an NBA player.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: An NBA player is at the pinnacle of basketball prowess.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: They are the best of the best.
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  SPEAKER_00: They are the cream of the crop when it comes to playing basketball.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, an NBA player will consistently practice their shooting.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: And shooting is something that you learn when you first touch a basketball almost.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of the first things you do because that's pretty much the basis.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Drop my rope.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's pretty much the basis of the um the game is being able to shoot a basketball.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you see an NBA player practicing shooting, why are they doing that?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Shouldn't they know how to do that already?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yes, but that continual practice just reinforces it, puts it in a muscle memory.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: It allows them to think beyond just the shooting process and be able to think about the game around them because the shooting process is just natural at this point.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, when you practice C sharp or practice whatever language you're learning, when you practice it, it starts to become muscle memory.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: It starts to become embedded in how you think.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to think about, oh, how do I do an if statement again?
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: You just think beyond the structure and the syntax to the logic of it and say, okay, this is the what I need to do here.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I need to have an if statement that separates this logic out.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: You've thought beyond just the syntax and gotten to the logic of it because you've practiced the if statement so much.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: So practice, practice, practice.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, be patient.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Take your time, don't rush this.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: I hear a lot of people come to me, they say, Hey Tim, I need to learn all of C sharp and web development in two months.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's a lot.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And quite frankly, you're not going to.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now you may be able to write a web application in two months from sorry from scratch.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard, but you could do it, but it's not the same thing as learning web development in two months.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: So take your time.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Don't look at this as a sprint, look at this as a marathon.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Think about driving um across the US.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: When I was in college, I had some buddies that drove pretty much almost all the way across the US and back.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And they had, I think, seven days to do it.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: So they decided we're gonna spend 24 hours in the car going out, you know, straight, and then 24 hours in the car going back.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: That way we can have a few days out on the West Coast.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I tell you what, that was difficult.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: That was a long haul, and really it wiped them out and they felt miserable for a little bit.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they were college students and you know they bounced back, but that's not the way you want to live your life, where you're kind of just you know crushing it in there, trying to rush ahead and get through to the end as fast as possible because you'll be tired, burned out, miserable.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: You might not even like the language you're learning anymore.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: Don't rush it.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Take your time, enjoy the travel, enjoy the path as you go.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Look back at what you're learning and realize you are coming along, you are making progress, and take that time to really learn it and at the same time enjoy it as well.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so don't rush it.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, those are my four thoughts on how you can have consistent growth as a developer.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, know where you're going.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: Second of all, train consistently.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Third, practice what you are training on, and fourth, be patient with yourself.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, those four things will help you consistently improve as a developer, which is important for all of us to be doing.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I do this because it's important that I continue to grow as a developer.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, you're doing it as well.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Dev Questions.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a question about being a developer, check out the previous episodes.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you don't find something in there, then go to imtimcore.com, look for the podcast page, and fill out the form to see possibly your question answered in a future episode of DevQuestions.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great day, and as always, I am Tim Corey.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us for this episode of DevQuestions.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: Tim is committed to making it easier for you to become a developer.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: If you would like to help make more content like this possible, please like, subscribe, rate, and share Dev Questions.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: You can also send your questions to questions at IamTimcorey.com.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, remember, you are too smart and your time too valuable to waste it making all the mistakes Tim did.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_01: When you're ready to learn to think and code like a professional developer, head over to imtimcorey.com and enroll in a course.