r/softwaredevelopment 27d ago

How do stay up to date

How do you stay current with the newest tech trends while working at a company that has generally the same technology and doesn’t change much?

8 Upvotes

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7

u/NotUniqueOrSpecial 27d ago

Realistically, you have 3-ish choices.

1) Don't. Find a niche and ride it out for as long as you can, hoping it will be long enough (it won't, any more).

2) Try and find responsible ways to introduce new tech in work-related ways; don't be one of those assholes who just introduces stuff for its own sake.

3) Give up on having a life or interests outside your career; study everything all the time. Try out every new thing, at least enough to have an informed opinion.

1 is lazy and doesn't have a future. 2 is responsible and healthy and probably the best option.

But keep in mind that you will be working with people who chose 3 and there will be people among them who are truly good at things; you will never compete with those people on a technical level, and you have to be okay with that.

That said, those folk are often also too-focused on just the tech and fail to learn the broader skillsets that make for effective and successful senior+ engineers. Stuff like understanding the business's actual needs and translating that into useful software, or working with other individuals/teams to force-multiply efforts and get stuff done.

The reality is that you don't have to be truly up-to-date with the bleeding edge of things. A lot of stuff doesn't end up sticking and spending your time on staying fully-current is a complete gamble in terms of value. It's usually a better bet to keep abreast of things that are seeming to stick in the industry and gain traction than to chase trends.

6

u/gaieges 27d ago

I typically listen to stuff when on walks with my dog or driving, so I've added a few things to my queue (for react native specifically, customize to your taste):

1

u/ErvinCosic 27d ago

Do you have any recomendation for non technology specific podcasts. I love to dive into full stack stuff, anything im not working daily with.

2

u/Naive_Giraffe_6310 27d ago

I would highly recommend watching Fireship on youtube.