The Importance of Continuous Learning in a Software Development Career

I once read a comment on Hacker News where a young programmer said they didn’t want to stay at companies that only push out‑dated senior engineers instead of retraining them, because they realized they could become the same one day.

That sentiment annoyed me; age alone does not indicate outdated thinking, just as youth does not guarantee fresh ideas. The biggest problem with that comment is the belief that staying educated and keeping up with the times is the company's responsibility rather than the individual's.

I have been a programmer for 32 years and have constantly strived to learn new technologies to stay progressive. I know many peers stopped learning after earning a computer science degree and were eventually eliminated. I spent six years studying chemistry, and when I became a programmer I realized I needed to understand what was happening beyond my work, which required a relentless desire to learn, especially when learning relied on reading printed material before the Internet.

In my third year as a programmer I foresaw micro‑computers as the future, shifted my focus, and joined a team where I discovered the C language and convinced my manager to adopt it, allowing me to write my first applications in C instead of Pascal.

Later I learned about object‑oriented programming, which inspired me to add clever object‑like constructs to C, so when C++ arrived I was already comfortable with it.

After a stint at Apple I moved to a consulting firm, used NeXT WebObjects and the obscure Objective‑C language. When Java J2EE appeared I believed the company would adopt it, and indeed the first full Java project was built using J2EE.

When you focus on what is happening across the industry rather than only on your own tasks, opportunities arise naturally. You cannot predict the next big event, but you can stay informed about everything, even if you cannot try each technology yourself.

Around mid‑2000 I had a colleague who was a C++ lead; his IE browser crashed and I suggested Firefox. He stared at me as if I were crazy because he knew no other browsers. He never tried Firefox, even though it would not have harmed his work. This illustrates the inability to foresee the next breakthrough and the folly of refusing to acknowledge change.

I have friends with computer science degrees who lost their jobs when mainframes were retired; they later complained they should have learned something else, but it was too late. Relying on an employer to provide training is unrealistic for programmers; layoffs can happen without warning, and you must take responsibility for your own learning.

Progress depends on you; trying new things, even if they seem unimportant, is always useful. The more programming techniques and tools you experiment with, the easier it becomes to adopt new ones. Learning itself is never wasted, whether you write open‑source code, volunteer projects, or personal experiments; it trains your brain to accept new concepts.

When I first heard about Ajax a few months after the term was coined, I was building web applications and started using it, then taught it to my colleagues. The architecture team panicked, fearing an unapproved technology, but after I explained it was just JavaScript they calmed down. Keeping up with new tech is my duty, even when it causes friction.

When the iPhone first appeared, despite the lack of a development kit, I sensed it represented the future; my Objective‑C knowledge became valuable again.

Staying current today is absurdly fast; JavaScript developers produce major breakthroughs weekly. Even if you learn quickly, you cannot master everything before the next framework arrives. Although my work then was iOS, I kept learning because you never know where the future will lead.

In the few training sessions my boss gave, I learned nothing new because I already knew the material and had used many of the new technologies, yet you can never know which knowledge will help later.

During graduate studies in chemistry I learned APL, which later became the foundation of my first product, Trapeze. After 1999 I forgot Objective‑C, but it later became my primary language again, showing that seemingly unrelated knowledge can become useful.

Some programmers ignore everything outside their work; I have worked with people who used 4GL tools to generate RPG code and claimed their tools were the best, refusing to learn anything else. When many of them become redundant, they realize they cannot find new jobs. Technology rarely disappears, but jobs do, leaving only maintenance work, and without self‑learning you become expendable.

Therefore, stop procrastinating and learn new things; keep your eyes open to the future. I have been able to stay focused for thirty years, allowing me to continue programming on modern platforms.

Do not rely on others; as baseball pitcher Satchel Paige said, “Don’t look back; someone will catch up.” In programming you must always look forward because the only thing behind you is the inevitable disruptor.

Original author: thecodist – Translation: Fiona (Bole Online) – Source: http://blog.jobbole.com/68875/