| I would like to put forward another perspective. I notice that in software industry there is common recommendation of doing some project (or just hack something) to to learn or get better at something. This advice I think is solid and is generally good for many people. However, I feel that it is not valid or valid only in very limited way to some people. This all depends on character types I guess. E. g. myself, if I ever tried following it I would not get anywhere, because projects for the sake of projects is something my mind has big problems with. It's simply not in my nature.
I would argue that regarding this point I am part of silent minority in IT industry since I noticed quite a few developers who are similar in this regard. So what is alternative if projects/portfolio/... might not be a thing for you. What works for me: 1. Concentrate on Theory. This addresses few things: I must understand theory to not get frustrated, I m more interested in theory than practice in general, Often theory is just enough and mind will just find solution when you need. A. Concentrate more on studying theory. B. Use micro-projects just for testing and understanding concepts, not something useful by itself. C. Study "best practices". To compensate for project problem. 2. Look for a way to have goals (projects) forced on you. Addresses few things: it frees your mind from over-thinking (e.g. "whats the big purpose of this?"), it must be done - you cannot just quit when lose interest/reason-to-continue. A. Hobby. Join online courses with assignments, university (if it allows). B. Job. Try to look for positions with more "projects". |