zet

boot.dev is a complete waste of money

As pretty as it is, it’s a crutch (an expensive crutch). Better to spend that money on a bit of time with an industry professional working in those languages every day than on some cordoned paywall cloistered in their containerized, not-even-real “development environment.” That way you learn real skills using the real tools of professionals from a real professional (not some well-intentioned but not-getting-paid-to-do-it educator).

This is the age-old gripe I have. It’s the reason I started SKILSTAK and would regularly bring in industry professionals to talk to the group on Friday nights. They would get real advice from people doing the job every day. All the other educational routes just suck in comparison.

People want to buy the knowledge, like buying health when they purchase health equipment. Either way they have to put in the work. Ask the average tech person how many unused Udemy courses they have. I used to purchase tech books and not get around to reading them. It’s the same thing. People want an easy way, but there just isn’t one even though there are plenty of people who will prey on that desire, many of them very well-intentioned. But they are all wrong.

The best way to learn is to read the documentation (you know RTFM), to study good code from actual projects, and make stuff you care about and can speak about passionately in an interview, to put “time in the saddle” (as teej_dv says). That stuff in your GitHub will be unique to you and stand out. It will have your style and flare. It won’t be some cookie-cutter, contrived project from some “quest.” And you will come away with the skills of figuring out how to code, of learning just enough to get what you need, of researching quickly. These are the autodidactic skills required of all tech professionals. Isn’t that what you really want? Just commit and do it “the hard way”.