With the rapid changing market and the vast amounts of sources available to learn from, staying up to date with technology seems to be an impossible task these days.
As a full stack developer, I use a few different sources to keep my skills relevant and I follow a LEEEN Learning method:
E – Educate
E – Exercise and Examples
E – Execute
Always learn, even if you have done the same “Hello World in C++” a hundred times, doing it again keeps the mind sharp, and you might have missed something the first time you did it in the 90’s
One of my favourite online sites, is Khan Academy, purely for their range of courses, over different subject. I see this as “getting back to basics”, want to recap on some Math Skills? They have an excellent pathway on Mathematics, from Kinder to University level. Their mobile app, could do with some improvements, but its not bad, especially for motivating the kids!
I prefer to use Pluralsight for technology skills, they have a few business courses, but I use them mostly for Technology and Creative skills, especially the courses for Digital Tutors (before Pluralsight bought them)
LinkedIn Learning They have a few technology courses, but I find it a bit limiting. For business skills on the other hand, there are something for everyone, from starting a business, to project management to Google Sheets and finance.
There are always sales on at Udemy, FOMO kicks in, and a person buys the course(s), but never actually do them…
I still prefer to read books, for eBooks, I use The Kindle App. I love this app, not just because you can buy books from Amazon, but the fact the you can upload PDF books, simply by emailing it to yourself.
My goto shop for books and courses, is Humble Bundle! For example, I bought this bundle today:
PROGRAMMING COOKBOOKS BY O’REILLY
It’s packed with high quality programming books
Just like every sport, the more you practice, the better you get. I love looking at some games/app and try to replicate some feature in it, just to learn how it was done.
If you can find some example of projects or open source, they are great for learning, even if its just to learn how not to do something.
Once you feel comfortable in the skill, attempt to do some real world project, even if it is for yourself, make a game/app and publish it on the app stores, not to make money, but purely to learn the full end-to-end process of create the product.
Get some feedback from actual users is still the best way to learn.
Keep Learning!
Cheers
XGameDev is game development studio.
Since 2010, our team has successfully delivered over 160 2D and 3D games, simulations and apps.