Too many things on the plate?

[Pho3nix]

Morning all

Just had a chat with my senior and he is worried that my growth is being impeded by the fact that I'm trying to upskill a couple things at once..namely up my C# game, SSIS and SSAS, WinRT and SharePoint.
The reason I'm trying to skill up on a couple of these is because I'd prefer not to be a one trick pony but the idea that this is making me grow slower is making me rethink this strategy.

I'm studying at the moment and try practice one of the above at least twice a week but still going too slowly.
Looking at becoming a Systems Architect eventually and thus why I'm trying to learn a couple things at once but eish.I don't know.

Can any senior developers share some wisdom about how to approach this? Advice would be appreciated. Would you prefer to hire a master of none but a jack of all or the opposite.

 

[stricken]

get your C# waxed... its the basis of the rest.

 

[Pho3nix]

get your C# waxed... its the basis of the rest.

True, got this down but need to step up my game because I'm making stupid errors and it's detracking from what I actually can do.
Trying to view this objectively and not get my ego in the way :\

 

[CrazYmonkeY159]

True, got this down but need to step up my game because I'm making stupid errors and it's detracking from what I actually can do.
Trying to view this objectively and not get my ego in the way :\

Prioritise which tech you want to skill up. But the lower prioritised tech on the backburner to give yourself more brainpower at work.

Work hard and smart, which implies do not burn yourself out or else you are screwed.

 

[Batista]

Dude, you also chasing 2 chicks aswell, so i dunno, you are stressing yourself out.But myself - as a senior c# dev- says waxed c# first.

 

[Pho3nix]

Dude, you also chasing 2 chicks aswell, so i dunno, you are stressing yourself out.But myself - as a senior c# dev- says waxed c# first.

Haha that's the weekend. During the week, I'm all work

 

[Pho3nix]

Prioritise which tech you want to skill up. But the lower prioritised tech on the backburner to give yourself more brainpower at work.

Work hard and smart, which implies do not burn yourself out or else you are screwed.

Hear where you are going. Have a tendandcy of burning myself out

 

[guest2013-1]

You're not over-extending yourself, all those are sort of related. Not too difficult to upskill and concentrating on c# alone might tunnel-vision you. Sharepoint/c# (SSIS/SSAS too if you're doing the code portions)

Concentrate on those as they're related enough to give you a nice broad skillset WHILE "waxing" c# and being able to think outside the box

 

[shauntir]

Personally, I now dev on most of my free time. I watch some vids on the stuff I'm interested in from Plural Sight. I code and create a mini app/project. That helps me get better at "work". Work then helps me get better at "home work".

I also belive in not being a one trick poney. Stagnation is evil. However, like most have mentioned, have a solid base first and then expand.

 

[zippy]

You don't want get the reputation of knowing a little about everything but not enough about a specific tech to be considered good at it.

 

[guest2013-1]

You don't want get the reputation of knowing a little about everything but not enough about a specific tech to be considered good at it.

That's why you need to know a lot about everything. You only have time on your side dude. Like last night I beefed up on merge replication and triggers.

 

[Priapus]

Interesting topic. Faced a similar issue this year. Started out getting iOS Dev down and then I tried to study all the frameworks and libraries at once. Mistake. What happened was me know a little of each and nothing more. Which meant I was always searching for answers online.

I realised soon that was not the dev I wanted to be. You know.. copy & paste guy.

So, I took on small projects that focused on one thing. Studied it until I knew it very well and could comfortably use that same framework / library on my own without running to Google. This had an unexpected, but positive result - pure, utter satisfaction and joy.

When I completed my last project, last night, which meant pulling dynamic data online and storing it correctly in an app, I was over the moon.

What I am trying to get at is don't try do it all at once. No one wants a jack of all trades, master of none.

 

[Beachless]

I don't think its too much but you should try and avoid jumping around too much and focus on an skill for longer.
The easiest is to use clear dividers like the weekend to swop from one skill to the next that way your brain gets time to take in the new information and you wont just forget it all because your focus changes so much.

Also if you are making stupid errors and not picking up on them you need to look at your testing and QA skills to minimize quality issue.

 

[zippy]

That's why you need to know a lot about everything. You only have time on your side dude. Like last night I beefed up on merge replication and triggers.

Lol