Forwarded: Learning without Burnout
I have the deep desire to be a life-long “learner”. Picking up hobbies, projects or fiddling with new activities, at the least. The idea is to not stagnate, and cease the wonderment of experiencing novelty. That is one of the prime reasons I chose to become a programmer professionally.
“Keeping up with the tech” is also one of the pressing expectations in the field of software engineering - need to be on the toes and constantly trying out new concepts/software. Given the increasing speed of innovation (at least development), there is always some new “elixir” launched every week. This intensifies the importance of focusing on the basics and building a strong foundational understanding. At the same time, new tech helps to validate our current concepts and compose new ones.
In the real world, not everyone has time to learn everything so there will always be tradeoffs based on priorities. This also highlights the importance of balancing growth with recovery. In this regard, the crucial skill is to learn to figure out how to fill gaps in one’s knowledge. And the best way to do that is to build something using the tool you want to learn - as opposed to rationalizing and opinionating.
Slow and steady will not lose the race.