Becoming a skilled programmer is a journey that involves continuous learning, hands-on experience, and adaptability. It’s natural to feel overwhelmed by the many options and questions, but here’s a way to navigate through it:
Becoming the Best Developer!
Choosing a Language!
Focusing on Frameworks!
There’s no perfect path—your personal interests, projects, and the market's needs will guide your decisions.
Coming from a self-taught background, life has been a puzzle because there are just a lot of things you don't get to understand at first unless you step into a computer class, but without such knowledge, you're blindfolded and limited to things you know.
Coming from a self-taught background, the journey can feel like piecing together a vast and ever-changing puzzle. Without formal education or structured guidance, you often encounter concepts that are difficult to grasp at first. There’s no curriculum to follow, no instructor to clarify doubts, and no peers to brainstorm with. This lack of structure can make progress slow and sometimes frustrating.
When you don’t step into a computer class or have access to foundational knowledge, it’s like navigating uncharted territory blindfolded. You’re limited to what you can learn on your own—through trial and error and endless hours of online tutorials, articles, and videos. It’s easy to get stuck on complex topics, and without someone to point you in the right direction, confusion can become a barrier to growth.
However, this path also comes with its own strengths. The struggle teaches you resilience, resourcefulness, and the ability to solve problems independently. You learn to seek out solutions, ask the right questions, and build a personalized learning approach. Over time, this self-directed journey becomes a testament to your determination and adaptability—skills that are just as valuable as technical expertise.
For the last four years, my life has been a wave of choosing languages. With new technology coming in every day and frameworks being updated almost every 7 months, keeping up with this technology hasn't been easy.
Learning Flutter, a dart framework that's been used for creating cross-platform applications
Learning Javascript, Vue and React
Learning Python and Django frameworks for web systems
Creating web applications with Laravel.
But i should say my whole life has been on Laravel backend.
This is what I’ve observed over the course of my six years of experience.
1. The Versatile Developer: Choosing Solutions Over Sticking to a Stack
As a software developer or system developer, it’s essential to avoid being overly attached to a specific programming language or framework. Your primary focus should always be on solving problems and delivering efficient, scalable solutions. The tools you choose, whether a language or framework, should align with the needs of the project, not personal preferences or areas of expertise.
For example, while I consider myself highly skilled in Laravel, I recognize its limitations in certain domains, such as AI projects. In such cases, Laravel might not be the best choice, and it becomes crucial to explore tools and technologies that are more suited to the task. For AI-related projects, leveraging JavaScript alongside frameworks like React for the frontend and Node.js for the backend can be a more effective approach. These technologies provide the flexibility and ecosystem required for modern AI applications.
Ultimately, being a versatile developer means having the ability to adapt to different tools and technologies based on the project’s requirements. It’s not about being tied to a specific stack but about understanding the problem, researching the best solutions, and applying the right tools to achieve the desired outcome. This mindset is what sets great developers apart from the rest.
2 Cutting Through the Noise of Trends
Don’t get caught up in the noise of popular opinions or trends about programming languages or frameworks. Everyone has their own perspective, often shaped by personal experiences, industry biases, or current market demand. While these opinions can be valuable, they are not absolute truths. What’s important is recognizing that many core principles and capabilities are shared across different languages and frameworks. For example, concepts like loops, conditionals, data structures, and even design patterns exist in most languages, even if their implementation varies.
The key is to align your learning with what resonates with you. Explore the options, but choose a language or framework that feels intuitive and exciting to you. Once you’ve chosen, commit to it. Dive deep into its syntax, principles, and ecosystem until you gain mastery. Your goal should be to reach a level of fluency where you not only understand the language but feel confident navigating its complexities and using it as a tool to solve real-world problems.
Ultimately, the depth of your understanding matters more than the specific language or framework you choose. Mastery gives you the freedom to think critically and apply your knowledge effectively, no matter the project or challenge. It’s about becoming a problem solver who sees languages as tools, not barriers.