Hello, new partners in the workplace!

I am very glad that you can take time out of your busy schedule to read this letter I wrote. I hope this letter has not taken up your precious time in vain and can give you some help in your work or life.

The introduction

In recent years, with the rapid development of IT industry, more and more students (post-90s and post-00s) join this industry. However, after they have worked for two or three years, there is a huge gap between their classmates. Some people, have entered the big factory or become senior development; Some are still in their original positions as junior developers. What could account for such a large gap? Is there a way we can close that gap?

During the interview with nearly a hundred applicants and the communication with friends around me, THE author found that the gap was mainly reflected in the following aspects:

Existing problems

1. Lack of purpose

Just entering the workplace, I need to learn a lot of content, and I feel that I need to learn in all aspects. At work, unlike at school, there is not a clear syllabus and guidance from teachers. In the work, many students are eyebrow beard grasp, inevitably lead to their very tired, but little effect.

2. Not having specific goals

Some students have their own goals, 3 or 5 years of goals, hoping to enter a big factory. However, this goal is too broad and not specific enough. A year may have passed, and you don’t know how far you are from your goal, or even whether your goal has been achieved.

The target should be disassembled. By year, by quarter, by month, by week, ideally by day, or even by hour,

3. Unrealistic goals

Having a goal is far from enough. Many people dream of going to school in the hope of being admitted to an ideal university, but only a few can really be admitted. Having big goals is a good thing, and I can’t agree more with 👍. However, some students hope to work for 2-3 years to be able to enter the factory, or become a senior engineer, but they are not too hard, so even if work for 4-5 years, may not be able to achieve.

4. Lack of scientific method

There is no shortcut to learning, but there is a way to learn. I believe many students may have experienced that an excellent teacher can always teach us a better way to solve problems, and difficulties are easily solved.

5. Lack of perseverance

To be honest, studying is really hard work, and it doesn’t happen overnight. In particular, when you don’t have the right tools or the learning results are minimal, there is often a lack of long-term motivation to learn. Besides, there are too many external factors that will interfere with our study and occupy our study time. There are too many temptations, games, food, dating, play, money, etc.

The problem summary

Add the above questions together and they are mainly the following 3 questions:

  1. The target problem
  2. Methods problems
  3. Perseverance problem

The solution to the problem

1. Physical fitness – Top priority

On the face of it, getting fit is irrelevant. In fact, it’s the cornerstone of every problem we solve, and if we can’t solve health, we can’t solve any problem.

I find that many students who have just started work do not care about this problem at all. Think of health as something to be considered after 30. However, little do you know, you don’t care about it, it will care about you. You will have health problems before others.

The body is always the capital of revolution, observe the “successful people” around you, generally have a good life and exercise habits.

  • Good physical condition can improve the efficiency of work and study (P)
  • Exercise can strengthen the body and increase the hours of work and study (T)

W(Grade) =P X T

Exercise is a habit and a way to earn money indirectly (save on big medical bills).

2. Solve the goal problem

Human capacity and energy are limited, a person can not become an expert in all walks of life, the more you want to become an expert in an industry, the more you need to focus.

Undergraduate, learning content is mostly basic knowledge; Graduate students, usually in the undergraduate study of a course; Doctor, basically research a certain direction of a course.

Statistics, want to become an industry expert, need to invest at least 7 years of time, which is often said the law of 10,000 hours, according to the study of 4 hours a day to calculate, every day uninterrupted learning about 7 years.

In recent years, the IT industry has developed rapidly. Take the front-end framework and technology that the author is engaged in as an example. From HTML 4 to HTML 5, jQuery to bootstrap to Vue React Angular Flutter, to Node.js, to Serverless, to microfront-end, Even javascript, which has not changed for a long time, has become a New Year. CSS to SASS LESS Stylus. From front end to back end, to micro front end, to gratuitous, everywhere embodies rapid change.

Looking for targets

Goals: This is very important. You will have money, career, and happiness if you do something you love and are good at. Goals, however, are not a matter of guesswork, of luck. We need to use scientific methods to help us define our goals. Because, the goal is related to our life, if you can do what you like and good at, that is great.

Nowadays, there are many career interest inclination tests, which can let us know ourselves more scientifically and know what we are good at, and get twice the result with half the effort.

Although the three hundred and sixty line, line out of the number one. However, it’s easier to feel fulfilled doing what you’re good at. There are tools you can use to help you find your niche.

The most popular occupation inclination scale:

  • Holland Occupational Interest Scale
  • Minnesota Occupational Interest Scale

Define your goals – Focus on a specific direction

We must learn to focus, to aim, to aim. Otherwise, not only will be extremely tired, but also will harvest little. Generalist (full stack) is just a legend, few people will be proficient in all fields, we can go deep enough in one field, it is enough to make you an expert, become the best in the industry, bring you a great income.

Set goals

Principles for goal setting:

It can be broken up from big to small, from far to near; Use the principle of backward to determine and adjust

A goal that can be quantified is a good goal, otherwise you can’t measure your achievement. We should set long-term goals: we are willing to pay a lifetime at least temporarily thought is a lifetime willing to do things, medium and long term: 5-10 years, medium term: 3-5 years, short term: 1-3 years.

  • 3-year goal: To become a senior engineer (master the skill stack and soft skills possessed by senior engineers)
  • Annual goals: How many courses to complete, how many books to read, how many kilometers to run, how many technical articles to write
  • Monthly goals: Should be a breakdown of annual goals
  • Weekly goals: Should be a breakdown of monthly goals
  • Daily goals: Should be a breakdown of weekly goals

Be accurate in your goals

Through the official website, the formal way to measure the assessment standards. For example, the job description. Otherwise, if there is a target deviation, even if the set target is achieved in the future, it is also a target deviation.

Goals should be realistic and attainable

Everyone has different conditions, so goals should be tailored. Some of my classmates are from elite schools and enter Dachang directly after graduation. The goal, naturally, is bigger. However, some students, “halfway home”, the foundation is not solid, can enter the line is a big progress. Two or three years to lay a solid foundation, a firm foothold is the most important.

Goals are dynamic and need to be adjusted in real time

For example, the definition of a senior front-end engineer five years ago was very different from the definition of a senior front-end engineer today. We should always pay attention to the development and change of technology, and update our original goals in time.

3. Scientific learning

Time management

Time management is essential, after all, everyone’s time is limited. We need to find time to study while working.

  1. Fragmented time: Commuting and lunch breaks are valuable learning time. It’s great to be able to take short courses, memorize vocabulary, and read tech blogs. However, due to the short period of time, it is not suitable for in-depth learning of new skills or technologies, but more suitable for checking gaps or research.
  2. Focus on learning: For difficult, systematic knowledge or skills, we must set aside time to focus on learning. For example, use weekends, holidays, so that the effect is significant.
  3. Before and after work: read books and technical literature in the morning.

System to learn

  • Building a knowledge system
    • The brain’s memory process is extremely complex, mainly divided into memory and extraction of two processes, only remember the extraction can not be regarded as learned.
    • Establish a system of knowledge and connect it in series, so that knowledge points become a tree structure in my mind, so that memory and extraction will become more orderly and more efficient. If the ability allows, to form a mental network of knowledge, so much the better. Not only the vertical depth, but also the horizontal breadth.

Example:

For example, JS related knowledge, through the establishment of the knowledge system, we can classify and sort out the desultorily knowledge points in our mind, so as to facilitate memory, extraction and reprocessing.

See: JS basic knowledge system

  • Solid foundation
    • Computer Fundamentals
    • Network protocol
    • Data structures and algorithms
    • Development language foundation: development language foundation is very important, it is the rice bowl we eat, but also the key to improve development efficiency
    • Computer security

No matter the rapid development of computers or the Internet, the core basic knowledge is difficult to change. As long as we master the basic knowledge and integrate it, we will naturally acquire new knowledge and skills quickly.

Use tools/tripartite libraries

In both work and life, we should adopt the habit of “efficiency is Paramount”. However, tools are a powerful tool for increasing efficiency. When faced with a problem, the first thing to do is “search” to see if there is an existing tool/tripartite library or experience that can meet our needs.

As an IT developer, common tools or websites are as follows:

  • google
  • Google Drive – Google Cloud Drive
  • Google Docs – Google Docs online
  • Shimo – Graphite online documentation
  • github
  • stackoverflow- one of the biggestITTechnical q&A website
  • NPM – Almost all of the libraries needed for the front end are here
  • Tinypng – Image compression site online
  • Iconfont – font icon Convert websites
  • Trello – Agile Development Task Kanban

Passive learning

I have seen many people criticize passive learning and say that learning is inefficient. However, the author believes that the fastest way to learn must be passive learning. The so-called passive learning is to directly learn the excellent experience of predecessors or wise people to reduce their own detours. That, I think, is the only way you can take a shortcut to learning.

  • Physical education: Physical education is far more effective than other forms of education, unless you are a genius, others can’t teach you. Now there are some offline physical courses in big cities. Qualified students suggest this kind of teaching form.

  • Network teaching: there are too many resources in this area, the level is uneven, we still need to have some discerning ability, choose high quality education resources, otherwise labor and financial loss. The following are some of the best online education resources I’ve found

    • Qomolangma Training – focus on front-end training
    • For class network- onlineITeducation
    • Geek time – Fragments of time, little lessons
    • Udemy – Online education
    • Coursera – Online education

  • Conferences and lectures: there are too many conferences in this area. Due to the cost of tickets and time limit, I do not attend many conferences and do not discuss them too much. Of course, there are many gods to worship, cutting-edge technology and experience sharing.

Induction and summary

  • Notes: The pit notes are essential, otherwise the pit will be repeated.
  • Sharing: For the technical difficulties overcome, or new knowledge and skills, can be shared internally
  • Blog: Knowledge and skills, if exported, can be contributed to others. Second, it can deepen their understanding and memory

Deliberate practice

  • Regular output: Write a blog regularly, such as one post per month, but don’t aim too high or you won’t stick to it.
  • Product thinking: We think from the perspective of products, consider the meaning and necessity of requirements, and find more solutions.
  • See the big picture: You can only make more money if the company and the project you’re working on are profitable.
  • Look to the future: We have to think about the big picture, what you give now will be an important foundation for your success in the future.

To learn English

The importance of English is self-evident, especially when you go to the top of the pyramid. Poor English will be a major obstacle to your promotion. The point is, many opportunities will be missed, such as foreign companies, overseas business trips and work opportunities. Besides, English learning needs long-term persistence, and the method is the most important, because of the limited space, I will not repeat here.

  • Switch computer and mobile phone system to English system
  • Back words, words are the foundation of everything, if the words are very few, basically English is not to learn. Must force oneself to recite the word, the minimum level 4 core vocabulary is to be able to recognize all. Back words, do not require will write, can know 🆗.
  • Search for English documentation, now that English documentation for large open source projects is essential, force yourself to switch to English.
  • Join translation groups, study groups :(github.com/xitu/gold-m…)
  • Communicate and share in English

4. Do what you do best

There is no doubt that each has its strengths. Never compare your weaknesses with others’ strengths. Believe in yourself, progress a little bit every day, better than yesterday. Because everyone is at a different starting point, there is no comparison of nature.

5. Love what you do

Drive is a kind of long-term, effective and continuous motivation, which can help you maintain the motivation of long-term work and study. After all, time is our own, we can’t waste our life. No matter what company or position we are in, we should be worthy of ourselves. Only in this way, can not regret.

The author testimonials

Accidentally, said a lot of, in fact, a lot of truth I believe we all understand, perhaps more clear than ME. I hope to share my experience with you, so that you can strengthen your belief in learning, find your own scientific method, and learn together.

Looking forward to your reply!

May 15, 2020