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What should I spend money on to become a more effective software engineer?
4 points by gammadist 1157 days ago
5 comments
drooby 1157 days ago
- Subscription to GPT4. = super human code drafting

- High quality text to speech browser extension. = super human reading abilities

- gym membership

- healthy food that minimizes inflammation

- books relevant to your domain. Use text to speech to help plow through them. Use gpt4 to explore ideas (validate and research everything gpt4 claims).

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ahelwer 1157 days ago
There's no product you can buy that will make you a better software engineer other than time off from work so you can explore, learn, and develop according to your own interests.
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verdverm 1157 days ago
Came here to say the same.

Money won't buy you skills, but it can afford you the time and space to put in the effort

The best way to upskill is to build while learning. Merely consuming information will not typically help.

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gammadist 1157 days ago
Would “cultivate an interest or hobby to avoid burnout” be an accurate summary of your comment?
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ahelwer 1157 days ago
No, it would not. You avoid burnout by not having a full-time job in addition to whatever personal development you are pursuing.
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gravitate 1157 days ago
A copy of Sublime Text 4[0]?

Some coding/compsci books[1]?

[0] https://www.sublimetext.com/blog/articles/sublime-text-4

[1] https://www.oreilly.com/products/books-videos.html

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magikstm 1157 days ago
A better outfit. You won't be "more effective", but you will be "perceived" as such.
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gammadist 1157 days ago
I agree with this; most of the folks I work with spend a lot (to me) on clothes. Once I started buying more fashionable clothes I noticed I felt more like part of the group. Even though nobody changed their behavior to me, it definitely boosted my feeling of acceptance at work.
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pg_1234 1157 days ago
sleep
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