Learning After College, an Indigo Developer Perspective…

During my undergraduate studies at Purdue, a friend of mine once said, “An engineering degree indicates you are capable of learning a lot of difficult material quickly.”  Those words have had more and more impact on me the longer I have worked in the software industry.  When earning a technical/scientific degree, the most important thing you learn is not so much the material you are studying, but more of how to learn and apply such material.  The sharpening and use of this skill is critical.

Time and again when designing software, there are new concepts to learn, new technologies available, new frameworks to implement.  How does one keep up with this moving target we call progress?  The best way for me is reading books.  Other avenues are online journals and tutorials, podcasts by industry leaders, webinars, and conferences.  These are the resources a technical person must use in order to grow in skill and thought.

If the technology or framework you want to learn is complex, a book is probably the best option.  If it is only a matter of using something simple, look for online tutorials or documentation.  If you want to stay current on emerging technologies, sign up for newsletters, read online journals, or listen to podcasts from industry leaders.

In the end, only you are responsible for your skill set.  If you become complacent in learning, you only teach yourself to dislike change from what you already know.  So be proactive, seek new skills, and don’t forget what your degree really taught you.

Here are various software resources recommended by the software team at Indigo BioSystems.

Books on software design:

• Design Patterns Explained – explanation behind good designs
• Effective Java – Best practices when programming in Java
• Better, Faster, Lighter Java – how to simplify your java project and avoid “bloat-ware”
• Joel on Software – One developer’s comical rants about everything software

Podcasts

• http://blog.stackoverflow.com/category/podcasts/ – General technology by Joel Spolsky (from joelonsoftware.com) and Jeff Atwood
• http://www.javaposse.com/ – latest in java technology, tools, and future
• http://hanselminutes.com/ – ASP.Net developer turned blogger turned microsoft employee (good for those who like the .NET koolaid)
• http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/ – collection of popular podcasts

Other References

• http://stackoverflow.com/ – any and all software questions
• http://www.javaworld.com/ – articles on java technology
• http://refcardz.dzone.com/ – free reference cards
• http://www.joelonsoftware.com/ – comical rants from a software developer

- Jason Liechty, Developer, Indigo BioSystems