In my professional capacity as an architect and team lead, I am sometimes asked by junior developers what they can do to improve their skills. Should they watch YouTube videos about various topics in software development? Are there good books they should read? What about side projects?
My advice has always been the same: to get better at anything, software development very much included, you’ve got actually to do the thing you want to get better at! Nothing beats experience. So yes, side projects are the way to go.
However, not all experience is equal. With programming, ...
