How does anyone ever achieve so much competency / expertise without burning out?

Career Advice
1

I’ve been a front-end developer all my life. With front-end development, there’s already a huge amount of information you need to know. Not just the fundamentals (javascript, html, css) but also all the other 3rd-party apis / sdks / frameworks you’d need to study / learn along the way.

Let’s say you know GraphQL. To use it easily, you’d need to study Apollo’s API. Then let’s say you know React.js. Sometimes, you’d need to use another framework on top of that like Next.js for server-side rendering, which has its own way of doing things (although most of it is just React). Then, let’s say there’s a new project, and it requires that you know Angular. Oh, Angular has its own way of doing things too (although some of it will be familiar). Front-end devs also need to communicate with backend-devs and dev-ops people a lot and to understand their language, one must have some familiarity with Node.js, databases (mongo / mysql), Docker, AWS, etc. I can’t even imagine how anyone can achieve full-stack competency.

It’s just layers upon layers and it just never ends.

I’ve been trying to study on my free time but to catch-up, I feel like I need to give up a huge chunk of my life, without much room to pursue my other passion. E.g. I also like playing music and learning a new language. But am just overwhelmed with how much I need to learn coding-wise, that I feel there’s not enough room in my brain to store other information.

Not only that, there’s just ‘life’, as in, maintaining relationships with people / loved ones, then there’s the health aspect of it where in one needs to exercise / maintain a good physique, then, there’s leisure, where in you just do something for the fun of it. And am not even the type of person who’d waste time on social media.

Don’t get me wrong. I love coding. But it’s taking over my life. I want some balance but at the same time, still stay at the top of my game.

Any advice? Or am I just really bad at time management?

3 Likes
2

Narrow your focus. Keep your learning project based. If you aren’t using it to build something at work or for a personal project (at most 1 at a time) then set it aside.

3 Likes
3

The only way it takes over your life is you let it. Balance is attainable, but that does mean sacrificing what isn’t important.

Let’s take GraphQL for example. Yea its a cool approach to getting data to the front-end, and yea you might use it in the future. But you know what, is spending a few weeks/months learning how to integrate that technology worth the gain? Would you prefer to spend that time with family, doing stuff that’s important in life, or learning the hot new technology that popped up?

You don’t need to learn everything, you don’t need to use every hip new tech, you don’t need to become an expert in everything under the sun. You could drop your social life, spent less time with loved ones if you do want to become an expert in X, Y and Z. Or you can stick to balance. Pick and choose what you want to invest your extra time with, and stick with what is important.

The idea a coder/programmer needs to spend 24/7 learning and losing out on important things in life is wrong. There are people who do that, who make coding their entire life. Its a choice to get to that point. Enjoy the time we have on this earth with what you think is important to you.

5 Likes
4

True. It takes time to learn each and everything. Master one then move on next. Everyday spend some time on reading , watching videos try code samples. Take one area and try to learn one concept at time burn it with consistency. Don’t forgot to revise we forgot quickly even though we understood the concept very well. For that make concise notes. You should have purpose then it happens automatically.
Do side projects instead learning technology straight. It helps to organize .
Hope this will answer your query.
There is one rule don’t put yourself so hard learning should make you feel happy and lighter otherwise it is wrong rethink over it.

2 Likes
5

Dont try to learn everything simultaneiusly. When the going gets tough , take one step backwards and reflect on what you did so far , revise it again and again until whatever you know is at the tip of your fingers. I do that all the time, taking backward steps for revision before charging ahead with new stuff to learn or new projects. I also go back to my old student projects that I did with fcc and not only revise but improve upon it with my current knowledge thereby producing a newer much better project out of my old one. This helps me in remembering the codes better and also less taxing so that i can spend quality time with family. Also , while relaxing or eating food or just watching tv, i try reproducing some difficult project, syntaxes, concepts etc in my mind without writing it first, then, once , I committed it to memory in my brain I write it down in pen and paper, then type it into my codepen…After that when the problem sees me , the solution comes chasing to my brain …haha…thats the trick without stressing yourself
Also you can revise by watching youtube tutorials…By doing this I slowed down my time to pass my fcc cert but it made me a better learner!Good luck!

2 Likes