The tech industry is a marathon that requires constant adaptation to stay ahead. Frameworks, best practices, languages, and tools evolve rapidly, and keeping up with the latest trends can be overwhelming. In this article, we explore strategies for adapting to change and thriving in the fast-paced world of technology.

Don’t try to learn everything

There are so many routes that you can take when it comes to learning new things in tech. You could learn a new programming language, a new framework, a new tool, or a new methodology, a new operating system, the list goes on. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed when trying to keep up with all the latest trends and technologies. My advice is to focus on a few key areas that are closer to where you currently are. For example, let’s say you are working on a platform which processes a lot of data and, although right now, you aren’t doing anything with that data, you may in the future. This could be a great opportunity to learn more about data analytics, machine learning, or even best practices on making your data storage more efficient and secure. Or taking it a step back, let’s say that your team has a gap when it comes to keeping up with updates to IDPs (Identity Providers) and you would like to learn more about this so that you can contribute to keeping your platform ahead and secure. This could be a great opportunity to learn more about security, authentication, and authorization. The possibilities are endless but it’s important to first and foremost focus on what is most relevant to you and your team.

Alternatively, if you are not working on a team, or any major projects at the moment, you could focus on a specific area that you are interested in. For example, if I am a software engineer who has a lot of experience in developing APIs but don’t actually understand how the requests and responses are transmitted over the internet, I could dive in to learning more about networking and how modern networks operate. This could be a great opportunity to learn more about how the internet works, how data is transmitted, and how to secure your data.

Stay curious

When you are in an environment where things change daily, if not hourly, it’s important that you stay curious and ask questions. For example, let’s say I have a library that I use regularly in my application that gets updated every few weeks but you don’t ever really look at why, you just update it. This is when you should ask “why is this library updating so frequently?”, “what new features are being added?”, or “what bugs are being fixed?” and take this opportunity to look through the release notes and see what changed. Take a look at the library itself and see if you can find any new features or bug fixes that you can take advantage of. Or maybe even see if you can contribute to the library itself. This is a great way to stay curious and learn more about the tools that you use every day.

Experiment and build things

My favorite way to learn new things is to “get my hands dirty” and actually try to build something. Sometimes you break things, sometimes you build things that don’t work, but in the end you learn a lot of new things and could even build something you actually use daily. You also give yourself something to look back on and improve upon. For example, if you have a project that you put together and it didn’t work out, you can always circle back to it and try to fix it and understand _why__ it didn’t work. This is one of the best ways that I have found to learn new things and stay ahead in the tech industry. There is a lot of access to resources online as well as offline (books, courses, etc.) that can help you get started on building something new. And this doesn’t necessarily have to be a big project, you can pick something small and build upon it as you learn more. One website which I have recommended over the years is hackr.io. This website has an excellent list of resources that is focused on making online education available to everyone. They have everything from programming languages to frameworks to tools and methodologies. You should definitely check it out if you are looking to learn something new.

Blogs, podcasts, and newsletters

When it comes to staying on the cutting edge, I suggest keeping in touch with the latest trends and technologies by reading blogs, listening to podcasts, and subscribing to newsletters. Most of these cases provided you with a “bite size” packaging which will give you a good higher-level overview of a specific topic. These are great when you want to stay relevant without having to dive to deep. Which, if you are reading this, you are already doing! So good job! :smile:

Here are a few that you may be interested in:

Challenge yourself (Conclusion)

Staying relevant is not something that is easy, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be fun and engaging. The tech industry is one that is always evolving and we are always learning new things. It’s important to stay curious, ask questions, and challenge yourself to learn new things. Whether it’s building something new, reading a blog post, or listening to a podcast, there are so many ways that you can stay ahead in the tech industry. So go out there and challenge yourself to learn something new today!

What are some ways that you stay ahead in the tech industry? What are some blogs, podcasts, or newsletters that you suggest? Let us know in the comments below!

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