October 2014
Intermediate to advanced
362 pages
7h 49m
English
Content preview from Becoming a Better Programmer
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Chapter 27. Avoid Stagnation
Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind.
Leonardo da Vinci
When was the last time you learnt something new and exciting enough to put on your résumé? When was the last time you were stretched beyond your capabilities? When was the last time your work made you feel uncomfortable? When was the last time you discovered something that delighted you? When were you last humbled by another programmer and encouraged to learn from them?
If the answers to these questions are the dim and distant past,footnote::[The “distant past” is not so long ago when you measure in programmer years, which is why people find it so hard to estimate the duration of software projects!] then you have entered the comfort zone: a place that some regard as nirvana—where your life is easy and your work days are short and predictable.
However, the comfort zone is a pernicious place. It’s a trap. An easy life means you’re not learning, not progressing, not getting better. The comfort zone is where you stagnate. Pretty soon you’ll be overtaken by younger developer upstarts. The comfort zone is an express route to obsolescence.
Key
Be wary of stagnation. Seeking to become a better programmer, by definition, is not the most comfortable lifestyle.
Few people make a conscious decision to stagnate. But it can be easy to slip into the comfort zone and coast along your development career without realising. Take a reality ...
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O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.Julian F.
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.Addison B.
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.Amir M.
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.