notes #1: learning to learn on the job

To new beginnings.

Before we get into the meat of this week’s notes. I’d like to give credit to the reason I’m restarting my weekly writings (for like the 3rd or 4th time - oops). It’s inspired by my co-founder, Joseph, who has also recently restarted his writings, and I’ve found them to be pretty awesome. They’re educational and well written, but most importantly, you can see that it’s a consolidation of thoughts - of deep thoughts.

Now, we’re not philosophers or anything remotely close. At least, I don’t consider myself one. But I’ve begun to notice a superficiality when learning, with the advent of tools like ChatGPT that prioritize speed over depth in understanding. An article by Namanyay which I’ll link under Learning Resources talks about this, and I relate quite strongly as a junior developer. Primagen also talks about how depth is important. He says that while we don’t get the initial burst of output, we do get progressive growth and dividends to reap down the road. Our career as software engineers are not short ones after all.

The point I’m getting at is that I think depth is important, and I hope these weekly thoughts help push me towards achieving that depth in my learning, by thinking more critically about topics. I also aim to have it serve as a reflection and consolidation of learnings across various resources.

I fear I may have already started talking a bit about this topic in what was supposed to be a preface, but without further ado, onto the entree.

Preface (aka. the ramble)

This year, I officially started working full-time as a Software Engineer. Yes, I’d kind of worked full-time before when I was at Xplor, before University and after my National Service. I was technically also interning full-time at Constructor for a year, but this time feels a little bit different.

Then, there was a clear end state. Now, there is no longer a defined end. Well, I suppose you can consider retirement is that end, but the timelines are vastly different.

At Xplor, the end state was 1 year, whereas now, retirement sits beyond the unknown. I don’t know when it’s going to come, be it 10, 20 or maybe 30 years. And the reality of this world-tree-like path, paired with my job thus far at Constructor has gotten me - feeling a little funky, to say the least.

Let me try and articulate it into words. I think it’s the feeling that my career and future is in my hands. My success is now directly influenced by the way I mould myself and the decisions I make.

Previously, there was always a next step that was inevitable. The start of university was inevitable. The next semester, and the next, and the next was a given. But now, that next step is no longer so clear. I decide that next step.

And so with this new responsibility, I feel a heavier weight to grow my skillsets. Cruising is no longer an option (not that I did, but you get the idea). I can’t saunter into the next step. And so, the first step I’d like to take is being able to learn how to effectively learn on the job.

How can I learn on the job as a Software Engineer?

Now, I just want to clarify that this is specifically about learning on the job, on company time, and not outside of working hours, which will probably be a separate topic that I write about some day. To my current and future employers, if you’re reading this, I do still do my job… it’s more of how I can make the most out of my learnings, while still doing my job well.

With that being said, here are a few strategies I’ve been thinking about, and hope to employ more at work.

Pairing

I think this is the most straightforward way to learn on the job. Pairing on coding problem, a code review, or even just a discussion, can be useful to get insight into somebody else’s thought process. I also enjoy seeing the nifty little tricks they use as part of their workflow (eg. git grep a branch so I don’t have to go to Linear to find the branch). You don’t know what you don’t know, and some things and patterns that seniors do out of habit, can serve as learning opportunities for juniors.

Mentor

To be frank, I’m not exactly sure what a mentor/mentee relationship looks like in the context of Software Engineering. I do have individuals I work with now, that I look up to as mentors, but I feel like the learnings there revolve more around the soft skills associated with the job. Things like communicating, managing stakeholders, navigating politics, etc.

Protected Learning Time

I’ll just say straight up that I don’t think this works, especially on a team that operates with tight deadlines. It is not protected. Most of the time, it’s just an add on, and individuals have to work overtime to compensate, in order to hit deadlines. Included this here just to be wholistic, and state my dislike for it.

Book Clubs

This is an initiative we’re starting in the team, where we pick a book, and come together every few weeks to discuss a chapter.

The End.

📝 Biweekly Notes

🏆 Quarterly Goal — To make it to Tennis UTR 6

• Practices

  • Serves x 2

  • Rally x 1

  • Match x 2

• Serves are getting more consistent, and able to play matches more comfortably now. However, after last week’s session, I thought I had figured out my groundstrokes since my relaxed forehand was on fire. But that wasn’t the case. I went to hit and I seem to have completely lost the feeling. I know it’s minor, but I wonder if it’s because I’m playing at night and I’m wearing my contacts without astigmatism accounted for. I’ll test this theory next week, and wear my glasses instead.

🧠 Learning Resources

• 📄 Sunsetting Create React App

  • Looks like React frameworks will become even more prevalent now.

  • Assume Vite will become the default successor to Create React App.

• 📄 New Junior Developers Can’t Actually Code

  • Learning has become superficial, with prioritization in speed of code output vs longevity of learnings.

• 📺 Introduction to Developer Tools, v4

  • Midway through Part 1 - most of it is stuff I already know, but I expect we’ll get into the meaty stuff towards the later parts. Aiming to finish Part 2 by next week.