Revealing top 10 expert tips to stay updated as a developer

Being a developer in this wild world of ever-changing technology is a roller-coaster ride. Every project brings new challenges. What was new and hot yesterday can suddenly turn old today. It is not at all surprising that we might be for example working on a Java project for months and then asked to jump onto a .NET project in no time. Developers need to have a plan to keep their programming skills up-to-date to advance their career. So now the question is, how do we stay current with these never ending changes in our industry? Well, we have come up with 10 top techniques experts adopt to stay ahead of the game.

1.Code a lot

As a developer, the more we code, the more we get familiar with our coding skills. This may strike you as a generic statement but you will be amazed to find out how many software developers end up feeling that their skills go out-of-date. Therefore, spend time on something different and get a fresh perspective. If you want to learn a new skill and haven’t had the opportunity to apply it at work, build your own pet project. There should be Open-Source platforms providing it. For example, Ruby developers can play with Java, Oracle developers can go for MongoDB and so on. Engage in small projects that pulls your interest and finish them.

2.Watch videos

The human brain is most likely to remember videos. Internet is filled with universities lectures, conferences, exhibitions and group meetings on latest innovations. They offer the first taste of new subjects and inspire to get out of your comfort zone. For example, TED talks are known for their ability to provide a fresh perspective to viewers,   is the easiest way to understand new launches and versions of OS, Realm offers new topics from around the world and Pomo.tv is an ensemble of videos about Mac, iOS, and Swift.

3.Enroll in online courses

Another great resource to get in touch with new technologies is by registering yourself in online courses. If you cannot afford professional training, sites like Coursera, Udacity and Udemy help developers enroll to various courses for free. They help you learn via. videos, slides, home works and programming assignments. These sites get you knee-deep in the latest technologies by covering topics in relative depth without time constraints.

4.Install tech apps

Developers who wish read tech news based on their selection of favorite tech news sources can turn to applications like Newstream (iOS), Flipboard (iOS, Android), Flud News (iOS), Pulse (iOS, Android), Taptu (iOS, Android, Blackberry) and Appy Geek (iOS) and Tech News Tube (iOS), Feedly (iOS, Android, Kindle), Skygrid (iOS, Android) and News360 (iOS, Android, WP).

5.Discuss technical ideas with fellow developers

Spend a few minutes of the day discussing technology with your colleagues. You can even have weekly innovation sessions to explore new technologies and learn off one another. Gain insight and inspiration from them. Hear first-hand how they are transforming their tech careers and in the process fuel your own ideas for the future.

6.Subscribe to newsletter/ RSS feeds

Yes, it is not possible to know everything, but it is possible to stay updated in a niche. Subscribe to professional blogs with RSS Feeder. Dig and explore them while commuting to and off work. Blogs like Oracle Blog, IBM DeveloperWorks, Java Code Geeks, Code as Craft are a few of the best available online. Also get newsletters in-boxed and scan through them whenever you get time.

7.Engage on social media

With feeds from social media flooding our system every second, it is only wise to build yourself a network of fellow engineers. Most of the pros tweet and post LinkedIn updates about their upcoming projects. LinkedIn groups are a source of current and relevant information. Join a few Facebook pages too. They regularly update readers about latest technologies. Our favorites include TED, MIT Technology Review, and TechCrunch.

8.Attend events and workshops

Another great way to find out what’s new and noteworthy is by attending various tech events happening around the world. Seeing someone demonstrate a technology live helps gain better understanding of how it works compared to reading a book or slogging through tutorials. However, if you are the kind who do not enjoy attending these conferences, you can instead watch videos, live feeds and talks put by those companies to showcase their new technologies. Conferences like WWDC and Google I/O are developers’ favorite.

9.Read technical blogs

Blogs are awesome because they are always updating themselves. They give a better perception to new technologies by showing things like code samples. Basically if something is important, you’ll find someone blogging about it. You can follow different topic-based publications like Ruby on Rails 

or JavaScript Scene on Medium or add interesting authors and sites to your favorite feed readers (in our case Google Reader).

10.Participate in popular forums

Internet discussion forums have always been popular for they offer topic specificity while featuring personal interactivity on social media. Web forums are most ideal to promote discussions, exchange opinions and ask for advices. Here you can interact with developers that share the exact same interest as you. For example, LinkedIn offers a great diversity of interest groups that engage in new discussions, Quora converses through Q&A sessions and for genuine experts’ opinion you can always turn to Stack Overflow.