Question: How do you stay up to date?

There are a couple of things that triggered this entry:

  1. Dave Burke's Everyman Links for May 3, 2008 where he point to Mabster's entry Developing with Confidence
  2. The latest edition of Microsoft's The Architecture Journal, Journal 15 came in the mail this weekend - this edition is all about architects and the practice of architecture.

I've only read the first article so far (We Don't Need No Architects by Joseph Hofstader) in which I found the following quotes interesting:

"The role of the IT architect is to solve a problem by defining a system that can be implemented using technology.  Good architects define systems by applying abstract knowledge and proven methods to a set of technologies with the goal of creating an extendible and maintainable solution."

"Understanding how a technology works is not enough to develop a robust software solution - understanding where the technology is applicable within a solution is essential to the development of a quality product."

To me the article is really good at describing how an architect really needs to have a broad knowledge base (domain and technical) as well as the ability to conceptualize the business problems and on the flip side see the patterns that can be applied to the solution.  To me this means two things: experience and a great ability to be and stay current with the software industry.

So the question on my mind is: How do architects (or even developers) best stay up to date with all the new technologies, patterns, processes, etc. in order to best determine when and where to use them?

Anyone have any tips?

posted on Sunday, May 04, 2008 9:29 PM

Feedback

# re: Question: How do you stay up to date?

After 25+ years of doing this, you'll find that sometimes intrest wains, and you're "not as good as you were", and other times it comes back.

Blogs have been great. Pick the right set, and you learn a LOT. Keep up with recommended books - and those tend to lead to others. I've read 4 technical books this year, and have 3 more in the queue. Then try using what you learn on small projects, or some open source project you decide to write or volunteer for
5/5/2008 4:17 AM | KG2V

# re: Question: How do you stay up to date?

I subscribe to a bunch of blogs (nothing crazy though), and I use a few link blogs (like yours) created by people who have similar interests to mine to help identify a few jewels in the mass of information.

That, and we discuss this stuff at work a lot - everybody tries to keep up with the latest technology, and we tend to specialize enough that our interests only overlap a little, not a lot.

So.... thanks for the link blog! :)
5/5/2008 4:53 AM | Aaron Lerch

# re: Question: How do you stay up to date?

My approach is to have a balanced intake for new technologies/ideas. I tend to read materials composed of 20% interesting but not useful, 50% promising and I want to use for next project, 30% to sharpen my existing skill sets.

I found books irreplaceable, but I only speak for myself.

And keep in myself that no-one can avoid making mistakes, you want to make mistakes so you can be wiser than others.

5/5/2008 5:49 AM | Harry Chou

# re: Question: How do you stay up to date?

KG2V: Wow 4 books already this year! I use to read almost all technical books, but lately I've started to branch out to business related books ... and now I feel like I'm more behind on the new technlogies - wonder if there is a connection there.

Aaron: Thanks for subscribing ... funny thing is, if you follow my link blog - you probably read more of the linked to items than I do ... I rarely get a chance to read them through these says - more scanning them than reading.

Harry: Interesting percentages - I haven't really thought of what I'm reading in that manner.
5/5/2008 6:54 AM | Jason Haley

# re: Question: How do you stay up to date?

Jason, you're already doing a huge thing to keep yourself up to date... Your feed subscriptions.

Can you image how behind you would feel if you were NOT reading (or at least scanning) all those posts? I find it amazing when I interview people and they say they don't subscribe to feeds...

The other thing is I try to focus on tech that has good legs. This is something I feel comes with life experience (burned once shame on you, burned twice, shame on me...). Remember when we were first in the field? We'd jump on everything new that came out? And then jump to the next new thing, and so on? And how many of those are around today? Um... yeah... When you've been burned by seeing a tech you just invested days/weeks/months of blood, sweat and tears on be killed, you stop jumping so quickly...

You start looking at the new stuff with a different eye. Does this have legs? Does this help me solve today's problems? Is this tech looking for a solution? Can I use it today? Does it help me or my users? Is the tech actually ready for prime time (i.e. is the tooling in place)?

So while there's SO much new stuff, how much is good new stuff that helps us TODAY?

In the end I focus on what my product. If it doesn't help me build a better one, then I put it on a low priority background thread and wait for a "stick a fork in it, it's done" interrupt... :)
5/5/2008 7:11 AM | Greg

# re: Question: How do you stay up to date?

Greg: Yeah I agree, if I didn't do my link blog I would feel really behind ... but I still feel like I'm not getting enough depth to some of the new stuff to determine whether it is ready or not to use. I totally agree with what you said which actually makes me feel like I'm not too far behind ... but on a lot of the post Vista release stuff I know I am.
5/5/2008 7:37 AM | Jason Haley

# re: Question: How do you stay up to date?

lol... Yeah I hear you. I feel the same. Heck, I still have production VB6 apps! LOL. Talk about feeling left behind (but I also have production .Net 3.5 app's so I'm not totally behind ;)

But I'm glad I've waited for WPF to mature. I think WPF3 (and its tooling) will BE the version. WCF, also I'm glad I've waited, as the .Net 3.5 version seems to rock (and has legs). \

Then of course there's all the Agile stuff, Unit Testing (I'm sold on Unit Testing) DI/IoC, Mocking, etc. I feel the agile wave is cresting and we'll see what survives. But that's where I feel the most behind... Not as much in the tools but in the techniques.

Just wait till PDC. Then we're going to really feel behind the ball again... LOL Stupid PDC... Showing us all that cool stuff... (Assuming they show us cool new stuff like [Total WAG's] Windows 7? .Net 4? SilverLight 3? Live wave 5 [cloud, S+S, new Mesh stuff, etc], etc, etc.)

I do hope this year's PDC is a little more real that 2003's, more like the 2005's. 2003's with WinFS, Hailstorm, etc. lol. Talk about tech I'm glad I didn't jump on...

Still, this is why I love being a developer. The challenge in solving the problems, seeing my user's eyes light up when I show them what's coming and having my eyes light up when I see what's coming...

I can't imagine doing anything else... :)

So how to keep up? Keep the passion and the rest will just come naturally.
(Wow, that's pretty deep for a Monday... I should put that on a Motivation Poster... LOL ;)

5/5/2008 8:11 AM | Greg

# re: Question: How do you stay up to date?

Why, I never miss Jason Haley's Interesting Finds, of course! Seriously, your Interesting Finds series is an extremely helpful resource to keep me informed of what's out there, giving me the opportunity to investigate what technologies on which to base the next stage of my development path. So thank you!
5/5/2008 4:31 PM | Dave Burke

# Link Listing - May 5, 2008

Code Camps Iowa Code Camp in the rear view mirror [Via: Derik Whittaker ] NoVa CodeCamp 2008.01 Schedule...
5/6/2008 5:23 AM | Christopher Steen

# Link Listing - May 5, 2008

Link Listing - May 5, 2008
5/6/2008 5:23 AM | Christopher Steen

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