How software engineers can stay up to date with tech trends and best practices

#self-improvement#continuous-learning
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“Am I falling behind the team?”

That question haunts many developers, especially when surrounded by teammates who seem to know every new tech trends and best practices.

When one of my direct reports asked me, “How often do you check the updates or news about tech stuff (e.g., library updates)?”, it made me realize something: staying current while maintaining deep expertise is not intuitive for many developers. I’ve been there too, and today I will share the approach that helped me evolve from a junior developer, to an engineering leader.

Let me show you how to turn the overwhelming flood of tech information into a manageable, systematic approach to continuous learning.

The approach#

Select “your” resources#

First, you will need to select and follow “reliable” resources. Based on your main stacks (e.g., iOS, Android, or Web - Ruby on Rails, etc.), you need to follow “famous” developers/blogs (from Medium, dev.to, X, Substack, GitHub, LinkedIn, etc.) or authors of great open sources.

You could also follow some top companies’ engineering blog (e.g., Netflix, Cloudflare, Meta, Google, etc.) or Hacker News, Lobsters, etc.

Codebase-wise, keep an eye on repositories, release notes of your major frameworks. Most importantly, follow official documentation.

Apart from that, technical books and online courses (e.g., Youtube, Udemy, etc.) are also the resources to keep yourself up to date with best practices.

Why reliable resources?

Nowadays, lots of blog posts are generated by LLMs (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude), however, at the time writing this blog post, artificial hallucination still exists. It is crucial to select good resources.

Use an RSS reader like NetNewsWire to efficiently manage multiple sources. Set up different feeds for different topics (e.g., technical, leadership, industry news) to stay organized.

Engage with the communities#

Apart from “online” resources (e.g., blogs, technical books, courses), I would recommend you to engage more with communities, especially local communities. Indeed, beside blogs, you can join Discord or Slack communities where you can discuss more closely with other developers.

Furthermore, attend local meetups, and participate in conferences, think more about sharing knowledge through speaking, or mentoring is also a great way to reinforce your learning. Being proactive within communities not only supports your knowledge but also helping you to build your networking outside of your work/company.

Diagram

With both online and local, you can passively get knowledge and best practices from people inside those communities.

Build your learning system#

You need to plan and create your learning routine to make learning a habit. Success comes from consistency, not intensity. You could spend 20-30 minutes daily reading technical article, check open-source repository, or watch technical talks. Then set weekly goals-whether it is deep diving into a new concept in depth, experiment with new tools, or write a blog post about learnings.

Diagram

The goal is to build sustainable habits, so you should start small (spend 15 minutes daily learning), track progress (keep a learning journal and review it monthly), then adjust and iterate (review what works and modify your approach).

Diagram

How about my system?#

Regarding my background, I started my career path as an software developer mainly working on mobile applications, leveled up to Senior Software Developer, then moved to Engineering Lead role which is focusing on management and leading the team. This led me to follow iOS-related resources, then more deep dive about mobile development, web development, leadership, and recently AI resources.

Here are my current resources:

Power of GitHub Dashboard Feed

One of my favorite resources that help me to catch up with trends is using GitHub Dashboard Feed by following people on GitHub. It helps me to know what’s happening in the world, and I can find some interesting projects to follow and learn.

And I’m also joining these communities:

Create your own system#

Now, it is your turn to start your journey today:

  1. Choose 3 resources that you want to follow.
  2. Join one online community.
  3. Set aside 20 minutes daily for learning.
  4. Create a simple learning journal (and/or share yours in the comment).

Remember, staying current in software engineering is not about knowing everything, it is about maintaining a growth mindset and continuously improving your knowledge.

Until next time, keep learning, keep building, and stay curious!

So, what is your biggest challenge in staying up-to-date with technology? Share your thoughts below, and let’s learn from each other.