How can I continue to stay current on the latest and (maybe) greatest tools, techniques, and technologies?

Question

I think I'm on the right track now, by subscribing to the IEEE Computer Society and ACM, but in just 2-3 short years, I'll be out of school and in the workforce. What are some things (anything from blogs to books) that I could use to ensure that I'm always up-to-date as possible on the state of the art in programming, software engineering, computer science, etc?

Answer 1

Read lots of tech blogs, download and learn to use the technology previews and beta versions of the languages and tools that you're interested in. Start or join an open source project doing something that pushes what you can already do.

Answer 2

Blogging allows ease of discovery because they keep pointing to new content, I also have found no shortage of "books you must read" lists from the feeds I follow.

I have found that by keeping an eye on the start up community you can learn lots of new things. Start ups are often constrained by low resources (financial & human) but have less bureaucracy, this allows them to be a little more daring in trying things that will save time & money. It's a big ecosystem that you can watch technologies and methodologies develop.

Similarly the open-source community can also teach the same.

Answer 3

Keep a window open on Reddit. It will at least keep you aware of trends and industry practise.

For more substantial readings, though it doesn't replace all the huge paper databases and journals you have access to at yourUniversity, many papers are accessible for free on the internet.

CiteSeer is probably a nice place to visit if you're looking for papers on a specific topic.

Answer 4

Also, I found that listening to podcast is an easy, low bandwidth method of learning new things (you won't be able to learn in-depth things, but it is ideal for hearing about new stuff - and it can be done while walking / jogging / doing stuff around the house / etC).

Answer 5

Hi Thomas,

I would suggest a few things:

1. Find podcasts that focus on your interest area and listen to them regularly (for example, if you are in to MSFT tech, listen to dotnetrocks, hanselminutes), SERadio for general s/w engg, pixel8 for UI design etc - search on itunes and check this thread.
2. Watch tech videos like dnrtv, personal experience is that visual learning media is a great motivation to keep abreast of technologies.
3. Get yourself an account on Twitter, and follow all the gurus and smart people in your interest area - chances are you'll get to see tips, news, questions, announcements, if you follow their twitter stream - Ofcourse depends on the gurus' desire to share.
4. Start a blog in your interest area and join the blogosphere and participate in the community through commenting, linking etc; Follow blogs of smart people as well like Joel and Jeff.
5. Subscribe to feeds of news topic sites (for ex: digg.com/apple for apple related) - this will simply be news, but you can subscribe and read all the people you follow by subscribing to their blogs - I use Google Reader for my feed reading

Good luck :)

Related StackOverflow threads

1. What good technology podcasts are out there?
2. What are the best RSS feeds for programmers/developers?

Answer 6

I read blogs, listen to podcasts and schedule a fixed number of hours to practice new technologies. I try to think of some pet projects like personal photo album using WPF etc...

Answer 7

You cannot possibly keep up with all the new developments in the world, and indeed, there is no point, since 90% of them will come to nothing!

I favour a slightly-behind-the-times approach: when something new crops up, and is here to stay, rest assured you'll hear about it. You're better off investing your time learning 5 new things properly, than trying to keep track of 20 new things and not properly getting to grips with any of them.

Answer 8

Personally I don't try to always stay up-to-date because it is impossible and would drive me crazy. I prefer to learn a technology once the dust has settled, it is mature and might be or is required in my job.

Reading books Safari Books Online is a great way to catch up for this.

However, I try to stay aware of what's happening in the field by reading a few of the well-know blogs.