Colin Brennan’s Post

Technologies vs. Concepts In today's fast-paced tech world, many developers focus on learning the latest technologies without understanding the foundational concepts behind them. This can lead to a misunderstanding: thinking that technologies are the concepts themselves, rather than tools we use to solve problems. The Trap of Learning Technologies - We often chase frameworks like React and Node.js for their popularity.   - While they provide quick results, they can mislead us into believing they are the core of our skills.   - This creates a dependency, making it harder to adapt when these technologies change or become outdated. The Power of Learning Concepts   - True understanding comes from mastering fundamental principles like algorithms and data structures.   - These concepts are timeless and allow us to innovate and solve complex problems across any technology.   - They empower us to adapt quickly, using new tools effectively rather than being reliant on them. Reflecting on my own journey, I've found that the most significant growth happens when I prioritize understanding the "why" and "how" behind the technologies I use. Technologies are just tools; concepts are the foundation of our expertise. Key Takeaway: Don't let the excitement of new tech distract you from the core principles that will truly enhance your skills. Focus on deepening your understanding of the concepts that underpin your tools, and watch your capabilities grow. Let's discuss: How do you balance learning technologies with mastering concepts? Share your thoughts and experiences below! #SoftwareDevelopment #TechEducation #GrowthMindset

🚀 **Why It's Important to Learn New Technologies Every Day** As a Full-Stack developer, one of the best habits I've developed is dedicating time each day to learning something new. Here's why it's so important: 1. **Stay relevant** – The tech landscape changes rapidly, and keeping up with new technologies ensures you remain competitive in the industry. 2. **Expand your skill set** – Learning new languages, frameworks, or tools opens up more opportunities for exciting projects. 3. **Solve problems more efficiently** – The more tools and technologies you know, the faster you can find the right solution to any problem. 4. **Adapt to future trends** – By continuously learning, you prepare yourself for upcoming trends, such as AI, edge computing, or WebAssembly. 5. **Boost creativity** – Exploring new technologies often leads to fresh perspectives, helping you innovate in ways you wouldn't have imagined. In a fast-paced industry like ours, learning is not an option—it's a necessity. What new technologies are you learning today? 💡 #FullStackDevelopment #LearningEveryDay #WebDevelopment #CareerGrowth #NewTechnologies

In today’s fast-paced tech world, continuous learning isn’t just a choice—it’s a necessity. Technologies evolve, frameworks improve, and new tools emerge almost daily. As developers, we have to stay adaptable, open-minded, and committed to self-improvement. Over the past few years, I’ve dedicated myself to enhancing my skills through various certifications. From mastering React.js with Meta to diving into Generative AI through Google’s course, each certification has expanded my toolkit and deepened my understanding of how technology can shape the future. But more than just technical knowledge, continuous learning cultivates a mindset of curiosity and resilience. It keeps us agile in our problem-solving and pushes us to innovate in every project we undertake. Remember, the best investment you can make is in yourself. Stay curious, keep learning, and always be open to new ideas. The future belongs to those who are willing to grow. #ContinuousLearning #Tech #SoftwareDevelopment #GrowthMindset

Skills you need to posses to become a better developer ! Projects ? AI/ML ? DSA ? I remember during one of the appraisal cycles, i mentioned one major fix i did as a "bug fix" and then it came across like a simple fix that was done. It was a major bug that was affecting the functionality of the product and would prevent lot of failures to happen in future. It was a bug but the discovery process to handle it was more like a feature. However i failed to market it the right way. I did not communicate the effort put in, the impact of the fix in the present and also the future. That particular point got perceived just as a minor fix, that is anyways expected from a developer. So, coming back to the skills i was talking about ? Effective Communication , Marketing your work and Ownership are some of the intangible skills that are probably not taught in Tech School , but they will always give you the edge, in addition to your skills that you have learnt. Hence, it is necessary to not limit your learning to just a range of interview questions and learn the skills required for the long journey. Follow me for more such insights. #softwaredevelopment #softwareengineer #skills #leetcode

This weekend I have been busy with my learning process at DeepLearning.AI - It has been really interesting! So far I have completed the following courses: 1. ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers 2. Finetuning Large Language Models 3. LangChain for LLM Application Development 4. Functions, Tools and Agents with LangChain 5. LangChain: Chat with Your Data It felt like a great refresher of knowledge, but I also learned many great things that I hadn't encountered or learned before. I am keeping track of my courses on my website here: https://lnkd.in/gFd6Qi7m For my next steps: 1. Move on from learning, work on some LangChain side-projects 2. Find some LLM related open source project to contribute to. 3. Experiment further with fine-tuning open source models. Which means that I am taking a bit of a detour, working only on web-development & software projects in my free time (Django, Python, JavaScript, etc). At least AI/ML & LLMs have become an itch to me that just won't go away! Lets become an expert. Next weekend I will pick up some further concepts to study. I am having my eye on the AI/ML specialization at DeepLearning.AI - Which likely will take me a few weeks (or weekends) to complete. If anyone has some other recommendations, feel free to share them. - https://lnkd.in/ged5bfkJ Anyone that wants to tag along? Feel free to DM me as well.

🚀 Exciting News for Aspiring Developers! 🚀 Begin unlocking upskilling pathways, a game-changer for your developer journey! skills are the currency of success and staying ahead of the curve is non-negotiable. Learn more in our new blog below to keep yourself up to date on the latest skills needed to keep you ahead! 💪 Read more below!👇 #TechJourney #Upskilling #DeveloperCommunity #ContinuousLearning #hros #tech #upskillyourself #upskilldevelopers #upskilltech #developer #development #developer

I’m currently learning #RustLang Learning another language is easier after you’ve already become competent in others because you know how to avoid the wasted time and fruitless pursuits of the past. You know how to only focus on the things that will get you to a point where you’re comfortable and independent. I’m guessing that knowledge / experience has to be useful to at least one other person, right? So here’s some advice that I’ve photoshopped onto an old pirate scroll (actually took me ages)... 🧑💻Read and write code every day...no excuses. Don’t start off at a pace which is unsustainable. Just show up daily..(yes I include the weekend). Be consistent. 🧠 Don’t try to memorize anything, ever. The internet is your memory. 💪 Always code along. Have a go at the challenges. (* As long as they aren’t too long…fast feedback is the key to getting stuff into your brain). 🔧Use only tools that keep you productive and stay out of your way. If you need better tools, save up…the investment will pay off. I tolerated inadequate tools for too long when I first started…avoid my mistake. ✅ Check your own understanding. Try working ahead of the tutorial or adding code comments to describe what the code is doing. 🗒️ Don't write notes. Write code. 📜 Don’t get hung up on principles n stuff. They won’t make sense until you’ve written thousands of lines of code anyway.  💡 Don’t believe you have to understand things straight away. Some concepts will remain a mystery for a long time. Just move on. 🏃Run the damn code! It’s not typing class…run the code after every couple of lines. Throw some prints / debugs in there to prove it’s doing what you think it’s doing. Be curious..not passive. 🧑🎓 Don’t do tutorials forever. Solve a problem / create stuff. …. Those are the ones that came off the top of my head. What would you add? 

Staying ahead for #developers is about staying relevant and leading the charge into the future of #technology 🚀 ✅ Here are the essential areas of #learning for developers looking to keep up with the latest developments: https://lnkd.in/dPUDnc3i

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Here are some of my main observations from the past two months of interning as a Backend Engineer : 1. Debugging: Debugging is a skill that needs to be developed and improved over time. Various things may (read: will) go wrong in development and knowing how to troubleshoot them effectively is key to saving development time and a lot energy for a what seems to be a small issue. Regularly using breakpoints and print statements when testing your code will allow you to find out errors or flaws in your code before it reaches QA. 2. Documentation over Tutorials: Tutorials are great for understanding a particular concept in detail. But there is a reason why the term 'Tutorial Hell' gets thrown around quite often. It is because watching tutorials for the most part tend to be more passive than actually writing code and understanding the fundamentals. We will find ourselves being dependent on tutorials rather than actually getting your hands dirty. You may be put in various projects in your organization that have varying tech stacks. It isn't realistic to rely on tutorials on a short notice. This is in addition to getting familiar with a large codebase written by somebody else. That being said, learning any language or framework via their documentation is far more effective as it provides you the necessary information to get started and provides explanation for the various quirks and features it has. More importantly, you have to actually write the code to learn as merely reading them wont help you. 3. DSA is remains king: Especially in the backend where the business logic is developed and data is handled, choosing the right Data Structure as well as coming up with the best Algorithm is essential. It is important to note that the code that we write is to be used by multiple users and therefore it should be able to handle all potential scenarios and edge cases. Having your code break in production in a nightmare. The ability to solve problems is what must be developed when learning DSA as resorting to rote learning will be ineffective in the long run. A poor choice of a Data Structure or an inefficient algorithm may result in you having to rewrite the whole feature from scratch. 4. Generative AI as a productivity tool: Generative AI is beneficial if you have a solid understand of the language/framework, project architecture and requirements as it is useful for clearing doubts or for giving simple examples. Ultimately you are the one who has to write the code. Merely depending on it will result in more prompting rather than solving the problem. 5. Continuous learning: In an industry as dynamic as Tech, having a habit of continuous learning and updating your skills will prevent you from being left behind. Apart from the skills relevant to your job, investing in associated soft skills such as management and communication will eventually aid in you becoming an invaluable team member.