How Do Software Developers Stay Up to Date With The Changing Technology?

In the 21st century, new technologies are springing up like mushrooms after the rain. If you don’t catch the latest trends, you can’t stay ahead of the competition.

Software developers need to learn something new every day. Otherwise, they won’t be able to stay on top of their game.
In the past 19 years, dozens of new programming languages appeared. The oldies have gotten a new wrapper. The abundance of new information is so high keeping up with the times seems impossible.
So how do software developers stay up to date with the latest technologies? Let’s learn a few tricks.

Joining Communities And Following Them

Even if you are terribly busy coding or dealing with clients, you must find time to interact within developer communities. A community is an excellent place to get the latest news, find out about possible problems in the industry, and get high-quality advice from the experts.
Being an active member of a community is especially important for startups and freelance developers, who are looking for assistance without formidable investments.
Depending on your specialization, you are bound to find at least one community to join. In fact, it’s better to focus on just one in order not to spread yourself thin. Most likely, you’ll find much of what you are looking for without sifting through dozens of community websites.
Some communities to keep in mind are:

Attending Industry Events

Even if you are just a beginner in the software development realm, attending industry events is highly important to keep up to date with the newest technologies.
New products, services, and innovations may be available for your perusal online. However, learning about them at the event is much more useful. The reason is the ability to ask questions and interact with other industry players.
According to experts from software development company in Kansas City, the value of personal interaction at industry events, such as trade shows and conferences, is rather high. You may discover useful information about a completely unrelated subject just by strengthening your connection with the community at the event.
Some developers opt out of attending industry events due to the high travel expenses. In most cases, you can find a recording to watch after the presentation. It may not be as efficient as the live version but can still carry excellent value.
The conferences you may want to consider attending as a software developer in 2019 are:

GoTo Conference (Chicago, Illinois)
DockerCon (San Francisco, California)
Jax DevOps (London, UK)
DevOps Con (Berlin, Germany)
DevOps Summit (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
DotJS (Paris, France)

Building Your Own Network

Software developers can take advantage of social media to build their network or community. Friends, coworkers, and colleagues who met at conferences are also constantly working on ways to hone their skills.
Sharing your experience, talking about new developments, making conclusions, and simply chatting can keep you up to date with the latest technologies. The bigger you grow your community, the easier you can get access to the right information.
LinkedIn groups are another excellent way to find like-minded colleagues and the latest news in the software development realm without actually searching for them.

Finding Time For Research

The toughest part about following the newest developments is finding time to do it. Going through large loads of information on a daily basis is terribly time-consuming. Some software developers spend up to six hours a day reading, researching, and interacting.
The majority of them don’t seem to even have an hour. If you are pressed for time, you can opt for social media communities. They are the easiest to scan through when the time is short. In any case, you have to schedule your work in such a way that you have at least an hour a day for reading the news. Consider it part of your workday.
Staying up to date is just as important as coding, debugging, designing, and testing. Without information, you may be out of work earlier than you think.

Taking Online Courses

Staying up to date in the software industry involves upping your qualification on a regular basis. Since you may not have time to attend live courses, you can consider remote education.
Today, online courses are gaining immense popularity due to their time and money-saving features. Software developers must follow the new courses closely to identify which ones are beneficial for their careers.
These resources can help you find a suitable online course for your needs:

Many more exist today. It’s up to you to fit a course into your schedule. One course a year is a must.

Reading Blogs

Another way to get information about the latest industry developments is to read programming blogs. As surprising as it may sound, some guy or gal has already done the job of collecting all the useful information for you. You just have to find their blogs.
Software developers often write blogs. Their goal is the same as yours. They grow a community, research new developments, and interact with peers. These people have more free time than you do and use blogging as a way to earn money.
Besides keeping you up to date, software development blogs can help you solve problems and get free advice.
Some of the blogs you can start with are:

Being Open to New Ideas

The worst thing that could happen to a software developer is arrogance. Even if you think you know how to do your thing better than anyone, don’t reject new ideas.
The tech world is changing on a daily basis. Anything you may have thought innovative yesterday could become the thing of the past tomorrow.
Software developers can only grow within the industry if they are willing to learn. Learning every day is the key to success.

Final Thoughts

Staying up to date with changing technologies is tough regardless of the industry you are in. For software developers, it’s especially important. By knowing which resources to tap into, a software developer can stay on top of the game.