Jonathan Cutrell

What To Learn As a Brand New Developer in 2017

1/11/2017

If you are getting into software development, my recommendation for 2017 is that you learn JavaScript (the ES6 variety).

Learn how to make a web service or two, and how to launch on a given domain; learn enough about HTTP and some kind of serving technology to get a service up and running. This will give you enough skills to be a junior developer somewhere long enough to build more valuable skills.

Next, I recommend you split your time between learning and pursuing these two things: user psychology-driven design and machine learning.

The psychology driven design learning should give you an intuition and method for learning what people want, and why.

If you want a long future in this field, machine learning and designing experiences around AI is your ticket to future value. Literally ALL of the biggest technology companies in the world are investing in this - it's not going anywhere any time soon.


Written by Jonathan Cutrell, Engineering Manager at Guild Education and podcast host at Developer Tea. You can follow him on Twitter at @jcutrell.