Great thread!

I am not sure if these qualify, but they are just some tips on things I found useful:

• When you’ve decided on using a new technology, read a book or two about it. I’ve found it incredibly beneficial getting a good overview of what’s possible with a language or framework as it helps you picture how you could use it. Doesn’t matter if you don’t remember every little detail, you’ll be able to find the details when you need them. (I’ve stolen this last bit from @chrispine and his Learn to Program (2nd edition) (PragProg) book - he made me feel completely fine about not remembering everything!)

• Find a language, framework or tech that you enjoy using - we generally excel at things when we enjoy them. Also means you’ll be less likely to get bored or burnt out.

• Don’t worry about asking questions or appearing like you don’t know something - because it helps others, both by the answers you might get to the questions you ask but also by showing others it’s ok not to know something, or that you have experience with something (when it appears everyone else might!) or even that you are struggling to grok something. This can help others who may be feeling similarly, but also could help language and framework maintainers improve their projects, docs etc

I have a few words of wisdom I’d like to share.

• When asked to modify something, we so often get a suggested solution instead of a stated problem. Seek the goal; seek the “why”. Often times what’s being asked isn’t what’s needed. And besides:

  • a goal statement invites everyone’s brainpower
  • a suggested solution usually invites only (premature) critique

• When programming, resist the urge to “clean it up later”. Either avoid the situation in the first place or spend a little more time and do it now. The task at hand will never be fresher in your mind, and “later” is likely to never come. Your future self and colleagues will thank you (or at least not curse you).

• Stuck on a problem? Drink some water, take a walk (outside if possible), and carry the problem lightly in your mind. At least you’ll be refreshed, and the odds are better for having a eureka moment. Being frustrated and/or having hurry-brain hampers problem-solving skills.

Agreed. I’ve found a lot of value in getting fundamental exposure to a new tech without trying to remember it all, and reading a book is my preferred method.

Time and again, I’ve discovered that having this initial context has made life easier:

• finding additional information
• asking good questions
• discerning bad / outdated advice

For example, I think I would have had a much tougher time learning functional programming without reading a few books (okay, a lot of books) and gaining a foundation. Otherwise, I don’t think I would have appreciated how much of a paradigm shift the jump from imperative to pure FP really is (well, for me, that is). I might have ended up frustrating both myself and others by asking poor questions. (So now I ask slightly better questions and only frustrate others ).

Some lovely practical advice here.
After 20 years of programming I still consider myself an average programmer and a junior many times a day. Technology is changing so rapidly I feel it is impossible to stay on top of it all. Take Angular for example, they will probably release 2 versions before I finish this post , only joking.
But developers need to hear these confessions because we have the impression that we should know everything and to realise you are not alone felling this way can make a big difference.

But now I am beginning to feel burnt out. It’s like running a marathon, I’ve hit my wall and doubting whether I can continue.
My 2021 resolution is to read more tech than I normally would (which to be honest has not been much, my bad). I am not going to change my tech stack but instead try and deep dive and get a better grasp of the concepts.
But I also lack a lot of the computing basics, the bigger picture as it were. Tunnels, Networking, VPNs, Protocols, Security, etc. It’s all been lost in the haze of time and I wish to brush up.
So with that in mind, I’m looking for good books around general computer systems basics that might bring me back to the future, or at least into this millennium. Does anyone have any preferred reading material? Some book they may even dare to call their tech bible ?