Learn these programming skills before your inevitable death!
There is so much to learn as a programmer it’s hard to even know where to begin. And even if you do begin, there’s always something newer and shinier to distract you, and so you end up making these giant lists of things to learn and they get longer and longer and longer and you feel like shit about it but really you don’t have the time to learn all of it, now do you?
So, why not take a few minutes to stop worrying about the things you should be learning, and instead let’s talk a little about all the things you don’t need to learn. And maybe when we’re done you’ll feel a little better.
But first, let’s talk about—
DEATH.
We’re all gonna die (eventually)
Someday you’re going to die. So will I. So will everyone else, our friends and enemies both.
Typically one measures one’s lifespan in years or days, but I once went and measured it in books. I did the math and figured out how many books I could read before I reached my presumptive death from old age. At the time I was reading about two books a week, but even so the number didn’t seem anywhere near sufficient.
And having started down this morbid path, I arrived at an even worse place. Every time I read a book I’d get to thinking: “Is this book worth reading before I die? Shouldn’t I be reading something more edifying than this entertaining yet trashy novel? Isn’t re-reading a book a complete waste of my time?” Instead of enjoying the book I was reading, I was worrying about some other better book I could have been reading instead.
Eventually I got over it. I won’t be able to read every book I want to before I die. Neither will you.
Sorry.
It’s not so bad, though. When you’re lying there dying you’ll probably be thinking about the friends and family you’ll miss. Or maybe you’ll just be tired, and looking forward to an end to your pain and sorrow. Or, if you’re having a really bad day, you’ll be thinking that you shouldn’t have had that last drink before driving home—don’t drink and drive, kids. Better yet, don’t drive at all; commuting is a terrible way to spend your life.
In any case, when it’s time for you to die you probably won’t be worrying about the books you haven’t read. And as you lie on your deathbed, looking back at your life, you definitely won’t be worrying about that new JavaScript framework you didn’t get to play with.
Some skills you don’t need to learn
There are many skills I do think you should learn (I have a whole pile of posts on this here website, in fact), but honestly—it’s just software. If you don’t learn these skills before you die, that’s really not a big deal.
Software is a tool: tools are useful, and important, and you need them to build many things. But our tools are there to serve us, we should not be serving our tools.
Not to mention all the skills you really don’t need to learn.
You don’t need to learn every blindingly shiny new technology that will End Poverty and Bring Peace to Humanity. It probably won’t do either, and quite possibly it won’t turn out to be good for much at all. I started my career programming building multimedia CD-ROMs, which were really hot for about 6 months in the mid ’90s, and somewhere in a landfill there’s still boxes of old unusable CDs I worked on that no one cares about.
You don’t need to learn everything programming language, certainly not in your spare time. You can and should learn those on the job, as and when they become useful.
You don’t need to learn how to use every new library, tool, or framework. Just knowing they exist is usually more than enough: when and if you need them, you’ll know they exist and go learn them then.
Some things to do before you die that are more important than learning another programming skill
Spend more time with your friends.
Spend more time with your family (unless you don’t get along, sorry).
Eat good food.
Visit UNESCO World Heritage sites.
If you haven’t seen one, a full solar eclipse is amazing.
Make the world a better place, even if it’s just a little.
Whatever you think is important and worthwhile.