Web development: how to stay current
Technology moves fast — on the web, even faster. If you’re a developer, how do you stay on top of new techniques, tools, and languages? Below I’ve shared some resources that help me stay current.
User voted content
There’s a lot of garbage on the web. Sorting out what’s good and what’s not is a mountain of work – for one person, at least. Digg, Reddit, and DZone are user communities where members vote and rank new content. The front page might be full of celebrity gossip and other distractions, but searching for key terms that interest you (i.e. “php” or “ruby”) can yield good results.
I particularly recommend checking out DZone, which focuses on developer-oriented content.
Developer blog feeds
You’ll find there are blogs that you’ll come back to again and again – the experts. This might go without saying, but why not cut out the middle man and add them to your feed reader?
Some of my fave developer blogs right now are Coding Horror (Programming & Technology), Err The Blog (Ruby on Rails), and Modern Life (Web).
Social bookmarking sites
Social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and ma.gnolia let people share their bookmarks online. You can check out what’s generally new or popular, or subscribe to feeds tracking what your friends or co-workers find worthwhile.
Tip: A lot of bloggers share their public bookmarks. If you like what they write, there’s a good chance you’ll like what they read.
Have any suggestions? What do you use to stay current?
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4:55 pm
Great post! A lot of people ask what kinds of things I do to stay on the pulse of the net. I’ve tapped into twitter as well as a resource for “breaking social/tech news”, since the majority of my friends are tech folks as well. But I’d agree, blogs and ma.gnolia feeds bring in the bulk of my content, its a matter of finding (or making) the time to process all of the information. IMO it’s important to stay on the forefront of whats going on, so that time is time well spent.
10:52 am
Hi Alex,
Thanks for the comments. I’ve been following a few Twitter feeds, but I find it’s tough to take away much from some of the cryptic one-liners that are being posted, most of which look something like: “drinking coffee @ starbucks”. Still, a good tip worth mentioning – thanks.
- Ben
1:45 am
This issue can be all consuming if you don’t find a reasonable way of keeping up.
Developing my projects with a framework – for me cakePHP – has allowed me to cut through a significant portion of the junk out there. In reality, it has probably saved my business, being able to focus on writing really good code and marketing it, rather than stressing about keeping up with the nuances of the latest ajax calls, or whatever…
Not to discount the benefits of using freshbooks
10:52 am
It is a good article, but I think that it is not enough to stay current.
In my opinion to get a result you need to work with new projects and use your knowledge in your daily work.