I recently spent a Sunday night in a hotel in Hatfield prior to a customer meeting on the Monday morning. For some unknown reason I felt an urge to learn Python.
Why? I have no idea… I’m a .NET developer, my team are all .NET developers but it seemed ages since I’d picked up a new technology and had a little play… not because I’d needed to for some project but just because it looked cool!
As IT Managers and professionals we got to where we are by working very hard and having a natural curiosity about technology. Our roles may have changed but I believe it’s crucial to keep that inquisitive nature alive – especially if we want to engage with and be relevant in our teams.
Of all the managers I’ve ever worked with the ones I’ve respected the most are the ones who find the time to stay hands on. I always told myself that it was something I’d hold onto through my career.
With so much of my recent time being spent reading about the Theory of Constraints, Agile Principles, and Scrum practices… it was a refreshing change to think about immutable data types and significant white space!
The next time you have a quiet few hours do consider picking up a book or opening up pluralsight. Remind yourself why you chose to be a developer in the first place and maybe even write some code in a new language!
dotdotdev.com 