3 Easy ways to improve developer skills


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CompileSwift Podcast – Season 4 Episode 3

I am going to give three ways to improve your developer skills. Our developer skills are central to what we do every day. We must always work to improve them, to expand upon them, and to make sure that we keep them in good shape.

Like most things, if you do not maintain them over time, they are either going to fall behind, or you're going to start to struggle.

So, let's go ahead and dive into what I think are three excellent ways to stay on top of them.

1 Contribute to open-source projects

Number one is to contribute to open-source projects. This sounds scary to many people, regardless of experience level, but it isn't.

There are so many ways you can contribute to open-source projects. You can even contribute to the Swift language itself if you want. Do not be intimidated, and do not be afraid; it does not mean you must contribute code. If you are not feeling comfortable or you feel embarrassed to share code with all these folks, That's okay.

Firstly, people who work on open-source projects are used to seeing contributions from folks of all skill levels. They will appreciate the fact that you want to contribute and help.

If you are getting some pushback or negative vibes, move on to another project. Remember, you are in control of what you work on. Don't let it bother you.

There are so many wonderful people and wonderful projects who are always looking for people to help, and they will greatly appreciate any contribution you can make.

It does not have to be code. You could contribute graphics, documentation, testing, translation to another language, anything. Start by finding a project that looks interesting to you and dive in.

Maybe you're using something, and you find a problem, and you find a way to fix it. These are all vital ways to contribute to open-source projects, so do not be afraid.

2 Build your tools

Number two is one that I do pretty often. That is to build a tool that you need or something that you think will be great.

I have a Podcast episode discussing this topic here

We have all said at some point, “You know what, I think I can make my own tool that will do what I need and the way that I want it done.” Perfect!

I do this a lot for tools, and you will find you will continually keep going back to these projects and improving them, refining them, and finding better ways to build them.

I'm using my blog-making tool for [CompileSwift.com]. The original was maybe a few years ago, and I still use it today. I'm still tweaking it, adding features, and updating things when new versions of Swift come along, and it just keeps getting better and better.

I would say I use the tool at least twice a week. If you think about it, there is some tool or script that will make you work better; go and build that project. You will learn so much from building and working on it.

3 Practice what you learn

Number three. I think that this is perhaps the most important one of all, and that is always to practice what you learn regularly.

This will apply differently to all of us. I learn and retain information best by finding a solution to the problem I am trying to solve and then continuing to practice that solution in the future.

If you learn something and don't practice continually, you'll forget it. So always practice the things you know as often as possible.

If you use the first two tips, then you will notice you are doing this one without even trying.

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