So, I'm currently learning German... and if you know anything about learning German, you know that it can be a difficult language to grasp.

The language has several words that mean the same thing, and they are ALL used frequently in daily vernacular. As a result, you need to know most of them in order to progress towards fluency. For comparison, a Wikipedia article states that German has 330,000 header words (words in the dictionary) while Spanish only has 93,000 words.

Now, you could either do this learning solely through tedious flashcards and spaced repetition, which does work great, OR you could add in what that random college friend preached about learning a foreign language when they got back from their semester abroad.

Immersion

Let's move this metaphor towards software development.

If your coding skills are the "German" in this situation, then the tech world is Germany.

You could do a great job of advancing your coding skills through persistent studying and hard work, and eventually, you would achieve your goals. But why limit yourself to only those techniques that can wax and wane with your ability to withstand prolonged periods of endless tutorials. Instead, IMMERSE yourself in the environment.

Immersion in the tech world can bring many benefits, least of which are the exposure to the different technologies that exist, new projects brewing at various companies, and experiences of other people that have been on the same path that you are on. You can become familiar with a lot of the concepts that would normally be foreign to you if you only studied coding curriculum, sans environmental immersion.

Let's talk a German example to emphasize the point.

The German language uses both the word "sie" and "du" to say "you." "Sie" is the formal use (as well as other things, but we'll table that discussion for now) and is used in settings where you aren't familiar with the other person. "Du" is the "informal use" or when you are familiar with the person you are conversing with.

That's pretty easy to understand, and you'd be able to learn that from a textbook.

However, let's say you're a rock climber like me, and you head to the local sport crag to do some single pitch climbing. You arrive to the rock and see a bunch of other people, young and old, laughing, climbing, and being super friendly. You don't know these people at all, so naturally, you use the word "sie" when asking how they're doing, because that's what the textbook said to do.

And now, you're like me, the weird guy that is way too formal amongst fellow climbers.

If you had the opportunity to immerse yourself in the culture, you'd eventually learn that in those types of hobbies, you always use the informal "du." Everyone is friends out at the crag, so no need to be oddly formal around them, regardless of your personal familiarity.

I think it is the same with the coding and the tech world. You can learn these nuanced situations through immersion in the environment and culture of the tech scene. You can meet other people that have been around the block and are happy to show you the ropes. You can allow your mind to absorb what is going on around you, way more than you can consciously do through a book or online course.

Heck, on top of all that, it is really just nice to have a different avenue to learn about the things we're passionate about.

Now I'm a practical kind of guy, so I'll wrap up with my own ways (learned from all the wonderful people around me) to immerse yourself in the tech world.

• Podcasts, such as CodeNewbie, Scrimba, FreeCodeCamp, The Changelog, Changelog News, Syntax, and .NET Rocks!


• Attending tech conferences in your local area. I try to extend my radius as far as possible to maximize the exposure.


• Joining a Discord or Slack community where you can have a constant presence with other like-minded people. I'm a part of the 100Devs community, and I couldn't recommend it more to anyone on the software development journey.


• LinkedIn networking can also provide a great way to talking to people already in the industry. While this can be a little more daunting than the other options, it is absolutely critical in building your network and learning the finer details of companies you're interested in.

Cheers,
Pat