Three career traps programmers fall into, part two
In part one the trap was waiting for motivation. The second trap is subtler: never stretching yourself beyond the work you are handed.
The comfort of familiar work
Paid work tends to repeat the skills you already have, because a business needs the job done, not the developer improved. If you only ever do that work, your skills stop growing after a year or two.
Give yourself a challenge
Pick a technique you have wanted to learn and build something small that forces you to use it. Make it slightly harder than you are comfortable with. That discomfort is where the growth is.
- Choose a topic you find genuinely interesting, not the one that looks best on a list.
- Keep the project small enough to finish, so you get the satisfaction of an ending.
- Aim it just above your current level, so it teaches rather than repeats.
Finish something. A finished small project teaches more than an abandoned large one, because you meet the problems that only appear at the end, when the pieces have to fit together.
Pick your challenge from the language basics or aim higher in web services and reuse. Either way, choose the one that makes you curious.