What do you do if your application development skills are stagnating in your late career?
If you are an application developer who has been in the field for a long time, you might feel like your skills are stagnating or becoming obsolete. Technology changes fast, and new frameworks, languages, and tools emerge every year. How can you keep up with the latest trends and maintain your relevance and value in the market? Here are some tips to help you refresh your application development skills and overcome the challenges of late career stagnation.
One of the best ways to avoid stagnation is to learn new skills that are in demand and relevant to your domain. You don't have to master every new technology, but you should have a basic understanding of the most popular and widely used ones. For example, if you are a web developer, you might want to learn about cloud computing, microservices, or progressive web apps. If you are a mobile developer, you might want to explore cross-platform frameworks, native features, or augmented reality. Learning new skills will not only enhance your resume, but also stimulate your curiosity and creativity.
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Of course its good to learn new skills. But one should know yourself too, and if you are like me, you need to feel reward for your time and effort. And in a world where Bosses are educated to keep expenses stable, it requires planning in order to end up with the proper reward if your efforts are not appreciated by your current boss. So the skill acquiring might look like a chess game or something like that.
Another way to showcase your application development skills and demonstrate your adaptability is to update your portfolio with recent projects that use modern technologies and best practices. You can either create your own projects from scratch, or contribute to open source projects that interest you. You can also refactor or redesign some of your old projects to improve their performance, usability, or security. Updating your portfolio will help you gain confidence, feedback, and recognition for your work.
Networking with other application developers can help you expand your knowledge, discover new opportunities, and find mentors or peers who can support you in your career. You can network with other developers by joining online communities, forums, or social media groups related to your field. You can also attend local or virtual events, such as meetups, hackathons, or conferences, where you can exchange ideas, learn from experts, or collaborate on projects. Networking with other developers will help you stay updated, inspired, and connected.
Teaching or mentoring others is a great way to reinforce your application development skills and share your experience and wisdom with the next generation of developers. You can teach or mentor others by creating online courses, tutorials, or blogs that cover topics that you are proficient in. You can also volunteer as a mentor or coach for students, beginners, or underrepresented groups who want to learn application development. Teaching or mentor others will help you improve your communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills.
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This is important point, you can learn so much from others. I have always asked for help from others. I have also mentored many tech/developers. Also, provided a lot mentoring to startups. Most importantly, pay it forward. I am where i am because of the right people who came to my life at the right time. Sometimes, if you need help, all you have to do is to ask, most people are always willing to help.
Finally, one of the most effective ways to avoid stagnation is to seek new challenges that push you out of your comfort zone and test your application development skills. You can seek new challenges by applying for a different role, project, or company that requires you to learn new skills, work with different technologies, or solve different problems. You can also seek new challenges by pursuing a certification, degree, or specialization that enhances your credentials and credibility. Seeking new challenges will help you grow, advance, and achieve your career goals.
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When I feel stagnant in a technical role, I know it is time to seek a new challenge. If I’m not learning, I am not growing. Start with your existing manager, but know that they may not have fresh opportunities to offer you. Code maintenance is becoming a bigger burden for every existing team, and for developers. But, there are so many problems that need solving. It may mean you need to change companies or teams. You will have to take risks in order to keep growing!
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Comfort-zone is the most dangerous situation. Working on same platform & technologies takes you there. One should always follow a pyramid structure. When you start your career, see yourself at base of pyramid. Do many things, fail & learn and fail again to learn more. Gradually start focusing more on your end goal and narrowing down things you do. Apply your learnings & experience. Make sure you move a block above periodically towards top. Technologies come with expiry but domain knowledge doesn’t. Involve yourself more into learning domain and over technologies. Try to keep yourself loosely coupled. If you are in this situation, it can’t be fixed overnight but yes with process you can definitely avoid it to happen again by moving up.
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