Original Copy 005 - Learn by Doing
It’s widely accepted that when you start getting paid to write software you are implicitly signing up for a world of volatility. I find this to be a blessing and a curse. I love innovation. New tools and languages are fun, shiny things to play with.
But this forces developers into FOMO. So identifying what’s important and what’s not is a useful skill to have. My opinions here are that the important things:
- make you productive
- put food on your table
This year I’ve focused on improving my ability to learn. What I’ve identified as a personal weakness is this fear of starting. I get stuck consuming blog posts and YouTube tutorials instead of getting my hands dirty. I do this a lot, and after much thought I’ve come to the conclusion that I feel I don’t know enough about X to move forward.
It’s preposterous to think this way. That you need to know everything about a specific tool or language to start working with it. This is my personal struggle, and I’m working through it. When I notice this behavior, I tell myself “JUST START!”.
You’ll hit every obstacle you were going to hit anyway. And when you hit that obstacle, it’ll be a learning moment with real world application. That’s a better way to learn - by doing!
On the blog
📝 Resolve Merge Conflicts in yarn.lock
Having merge conflicts in your yarn.lock
file is never a good time. I’ve attempted manual resolution before, but it always felt like an anti-pattern. In this post I describe a better way.
Seriously good stuff
💻 Devhints
Devhints, created by Rico Sta. Cruz, is “collection of cheatsheets” on various programming languages and tools. Well designed and pleasant to use.
📺 Paul Lewis on YouTube
Paul Lewis, who goes by Aerotwist on the Interwebs, works at Google and recently started his own YouTube channel where he breaks down web development topics with his unique personality and approach to video editing. The content is great, in both an educational and entertaining way. Highly recommend.
📚 Surely You’re Joking, Mr .Feynman
One of my favorite reads this year. Richard Feynman was a theoretical physicist with a child-like curiosity and a nose for adventure. This book is his biography. The stories told range from ultra-scientific to wildy absurd. I loved every page of it.
Talk to you next week,
Happy coding! 👾