Balancing Theory and Practice in Software Learning

In this episode, we discuss how to learn effectively as a software engineer. Why some people seem to learn faster than others? What are some practical ways to speed up your learning? Instead of promising magical shortcuts to becoming a principal engineer in months, we focus on a more balanced approach that helps you build skills by mixing theory with practice.

Quick takeaways

• Focus on applying what you learn - reading books or watching videos isn’t enough without practice
• Build real projects that challenge you - trivial examples don’t expose you to the hidden complexities you’ll face in actual work
• Expect and embrace frustration - feeling stuck often means you’re learning something valuable
• Learn timeless concepts over framework-specific details - aim for universal software skills like modularization
• Mix theory with practice in small chunks - read a bit and code a bit, rather than consuming large amounts of content at once

Notes

• We mentioned our learning platform
• Domain-Driven Design was referenced throughout - check “Implementing Domain-Driven Design” by Vaughn Vernon
• Watermill - our open-source library mentioned as an example of a project that taught us while helping others: github.com/ThreeDotsLabs/watermill
• Event-Driven Architecture traces back to 1950s, but was formalized about 20 years ago
• The Repository pattern blog post
  

Full episode notes and transcript: http://threedots.tech/episode/learning-software-skills-fast/