As developers we are in an interesting, potentially unique, industry where the bar for entry is extremely low. A large proportion of the population have access to computers / internet and many of the popular languages / IDE’s are free. In fact you can start your development career with just a browser and notepad/textedit, learning HTML/CSS and Javascript and extending to Node/Angular and many other JS frameworks.
This low bar of entry continues throughout the technology range for all levels of developer. Microsoft have provided a totally free version of Visual Studio (and now Code) for .NET. For Java there is Eclipse and JetBrains now provide a community version of IntelliJ for free. With a Mac and iOS device or Mac/PC and an Android device it’s possible to learn mobile development; with fantastic online documentation / example code and numerous blog articles all for free. It’s even possible to subscribe to various online training providers (such as Pluralsight). There are also community events, locally to the Brighton area I’ve been to Brighton Alt.NET and Brighton Mobile Meetup but a Google search will probably turn up loads near you.
So in this day and age it has never been easier to learn, either to start out or stay on top of our game. Are you investing in your own career?
The one bit of advice I wish I’d received much earlier in my career is: Saying yes to one thing means that you are always saying no to something else! It seems pretty obvious when you think about it, as time is finite. So every little task you take on is consuming a part of that finite resource. When you’re starting out, you’re probably ‘time rich / cash poor’ which is probably the worst combination . . .
Last year, as part of a series of posts, I asked: “Are you investing in your own career?“. This, in part, came about from a great quote that heard: Do you have 10 years experience, or 1 year’s experience repeated 10 times? I think the majority of developers starting out are fired up and excited every day. Everything is new, everything is a challenge. Just getting something to work, no matter how is a success. . . .