What would you recommend for building your skills?

a year ago by 3rr4tt1c to c/cs_career_questions

I know this seems like a very obvious question. But I mean with regards to job searches. Even internships seem to require a variety of skills these days. I'm interested in both web development and just recently have considered data analysis. Should I work on tutorials and personal projects for a single skill or framework at a time? Or make small projects across a wide variety of things so I can put those skills on my resume?

d00ery 10 points a year ago

It's probably easiest to build something fun or interesting, but any coding is good practice.

Or look at job specs you're interested in and try to build something based on that.

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3rr4tt1c 3 points a year ago

I'm trying to do the job specs, but the net is just so wide. But yeah, it looks like personal projects is the way to go.

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JakenVeina 3 points a year ago

"Build shit" is 100% the answer. Bonus points if you can finish it and put it up on GitHub or wherever. But not necessary.

My go-to is always "pick something that already exists, and just remake it" because that gives you very concrete, achievable goals. Something as simple as dir.exe, or ls, or some other CLI tool.

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etchinghillside 8 points a year ago

I would say focused – and then try and solve problems that annoy/impact you or others – rather than just going through a checklist of tutorials.

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FizzyOrange 4 points a year ago

Personal project for sure. Build something you want. If you want to learn a particular skill/framework try to think of a personal project that could use it.

Just following tutorials with no goal in mind is too boring.

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IndustryStandard 4 points a year ago

Learn some boring industry standard language if you want a job.

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Downpour 4 points a year ago

If I don't know any insiders, where could I learn this kind of stuff? Industry podcasts?

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d00ery 3 points a year ago