What Learning 12+ Technologies Teaches You

One of the best things about being in an industry that rapidly changes is the number of fascinating technologies which keep on coming.

There are like so many of things we can talk about starting from programming languages to package managers to different frameworks.

They all are so easy to get started with and offer just enough "boilerplate" for you to get acquainted with it in span of a short time.

Like you (might be), I was obsessed with experimenting with all this new stuff as well. Even so much, I started learning everything one by one. From Machine Learning to Big Data, I was learning them all, partly because some of them were already part of my college subjects.

Side Note: isn't that a good part of being at a college? you get to explore a lot of subjects because you HAVE to study them to get good grades. Or am I the only one who studied them?

Anyhow, Learning all these subjects, I found myself having gone through about 12 different technologies. To make it worthwhile, I compiled all the research and time spent into an Open source resource which is like a big resource of resources which are curated from the internet for you to learn 12+ futuristic technologies. (So meta, right?)

While it was great to have spent so much time learning these 12 technologies, the truth is that it didn't really help me to find a job. Most of the jobs require you to have a certain specialization. One reason could be that this phase was a distraction due to Shiny Object Syndrome where our minds just wanders to whatever "new" and "shiny" thing we see.

Another reason could be that, while it was great for the exploration part, I didn't really spent enough time mastering or specializing one of the skills. I used to learn enough to get myself started with basics. But that was not enough because the urge to try something else was always up there.

However, the point that I learned & want to share is that you WILL get distracted from time to time by another open-source, boilerplate ready, batteries included framework. Information is exploding at a rate which keeps on changing every year and the impact it has on us is magnificient. (Once I wrote about explosion of data and shared my thoughts about it.)

In order to become better and skillful at something, you will have to invest enough time in mastering the basics very well and moving beyond in the same domain.

But if you are like me who can't keep your head in just one game, here's how I have figured it out. One approach you can do is to master one thing at a time. Do give the new technologies or just any new subject a try, in order to better understand yourself, your liking and unliking.

Learn new things, unlearn what has changed and become better and most of all, try to bridge the gap by finding the 'cross' between different technologies because that can help you exponentially in growing. Imagine what you can do from what you already know and what new you are learning.

I hope this short experience of mine can help you in your career, reader :)