August 08, 2003Staying sharpI recently received an email from a reader asking me for advice about improving his developer skills. I am not sure there is any straight answer to this question but let me throw a few random ideas.
How do you guys "stay sharp"? Posted by cedric at August 8, 2003 07:03 AMComments
All agreed ;) I'd add one thing though: how do you know what new things to study? how do you know where the cutting edge is moving to? One great way to continuously open your mind to new stuff is to read selected blogs regularly (aggregating them). And Cédric's weblog is definitely one on my list! :P -François. Posted by: François PLANQUE at August 8, 2003 10:08 AMNice list. I want to learn some ruby, too. But I'm also interested in programming something native for my OSX. ;-) I also to try to read something about a topic I completely dislike ... Most of the time, the latter applies ;-) Posted by: Pierre CARION at August 8, 2003 10:51 AMMake learning a life-long habit is wise advice - and not simply restrictly limited to learning computer languages - ideas and insights can come from all sorts of unexpected sources! Being a developer is a multi-faceted career. Hanging out with smart and curious people is particularly good advice!! In all of this though, remember to make effective use of your time (particularly at work) - time has value and a sense of purpose (goals) helps to make the best use of time. One thing though: in order to stay sharp, you have to be sharp in the first place. If you always had this nice aptitude to learn since your youngest age, staying sharp is a piece of cake. Learning natural languages depends of what happens between 0 and 6 years old. If your brain is used to recognize different sounds and that you keep it trained, you will not have any issue to learn new natural languages (like this Blue Elephant restaurant manager I know who speaks 11 languages ranging from French, Thai to Arabic!). I believe it is the same for all the different categories, not only natural languages, but also science, management, culture, …) I usually find that the smartest people are the people who have a broad range of interest. How to stay sharp? Answering that question would mean that I am a smart person! Do I want to answer it? I, sometimes, consider myself, not smart enough to understand things that go beyond my comprehension (superstring theory, IGM chess games, …); but one thing I like is to try to understand :-), therefore, I read a lot. Thierry Janaudy Very good list. I can't agree with you more. Where do you start, though? I think by reading "Pragmatic Programmer" and "Code Complete" will put you on a right track: it will give you guidence to stay sharp -- it definitely put me in a driver's seat. :-) BTW, I have great interest in "Staying Sharp," as I have a blog called "Stas on Software-Eng: becoming a software craftsman" (the URL) where I'm basically explaining what I think will help me and others get to the top and stay there. Stay sharp, that is. :-) (Nice list of books read.) Posted by: Stas Kubasek at August 27, 2004 09:17 AMHi - I was looking for some political sites with articles on the recent US election and found your nice site. The comments from others on here are pretty good so I just thought I'd add my thoughts also! Elaine Cooper Posted by: zone diet extreme at November 4, 2004 12:18 PMDoes this form work like a guestbook? Posted by: Ming HoLee at November 8, 2004 11:46 AMI stumbled on this from Google and wanted to say hello Posted by: Jenn C at November 9, 2004 01:37 PMI'm just browsing around your site for the first time, interesting read Posted by: natural & big at November 13, 2004 06:02 PMWarm welcome to Alnemat TheGrace Arabic Christian Internet Magazine, We love you! Please visit us at: http://www.TheGrace.com http://www.TheGrace.net http://www.TheGrace.org I love music! Posted by: All Else Failed at September 13, 2006 08:37 AMNice site. Keep up the good word. I would just like to add that in addtition to reading, you should play some games also. Activities such as playing chess, board games, card games, etc tend to stimulate the brain as well. Posted by: mansour salahmand at November 3, 2006 12:15 PMNice site. Keep up the good word. I would just like to add that in addtition to reading, you should play some games also. Activities such as playing chess, board games, card games, etc tend to stimulate the brain as well. Posted by: mansour salahmand at November 3, 2006 12:16 PMStaying abreast of the law is another way to be informed. Learning about the nuances of the law can be a great brain booster. Learn about the eviction process. Posted by: azar baradar at December 20, 2006 03:40 PMpnwfahty tmzsvdyt http://jpepsnhs.com wwkfwdop bvinfwpq [URL=http://ijantxqx.com]clanbyda[/URL] Posted by: xmkibvqr at March 10, 2007 09:30 PMPost a comment
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