Plan for Next 6 Months

This is my first post (of several more) where I capture my journey of becoming a better software developer. This series should motivate me to stick to a plan as this is the hardest thing humans could possibly do. Also, sharing my knowledge should help me learn faster.

Background
I have worked as a test automation engineer for 5 out of 6 years of my career through which I learned how to write coding syntax but never wondered how applications worked. Things changed though when I got into freecodecamp and my contribution at job improved significantly. I now work as an iOS developer(thanks to fcc and frontendmasters) with a leading travel technology company.

Why?
I feel passionate about programming and I would like to keep doing it for the most part of my life. To make this happen though, I would need to improve my skills continuously and this is the journey I intend to share with these articles.

Objectives for the next 6 months
1. Improve Computer Science Fundamentals
2. Get better at writing code
3. System Design Knowledge
4. Create channels for the feedback loop

The Plan
1. Improve Computer science fundamentals
1. Learn C — most of the languages are based on it and should help grasp fundamental concepts of other languages. Concepts like pointers and memory management are high on must knows list.
2. Data structures and Algorithms
2. Get better at writing code
1. Practice and read code as much as possible
2. Take up courses on how to write code
3. System design knowledge
1. Learn design patterns
2. Complete all FCC projects
3. Increase knowledge about tools actively being used in projects
4. Create channels for the feedback loop
1. Maintain a personal blog with weekly posts
2. Post on medium
3. Actively get reviews on code
4. Teach others

I will be taking references from freecodecamp and P1xt’s guides to come up with courses and projects to start with.

Plan for July

1. CS50 — I have complete 5 lectures and remaining lectures. Remaining lecture includes topics like Python, web development and SQL.
2. Create a personal blog website — I already have a place to start with. It is a gatsby starter blog from here.
3. Algorithm and Data structures series by Bianca Gandolfo — I have taken up her courses before and they are highly recommended. I plan on taking the first course and submitting solutions for related topics.
4. Complete “The Pragmatic Programmer” — This was on every recommendation list and after going through the first 100 pages, I could not agree more. Pearls from this will be coming soon.

Thank you for reading this. Please feel free to drop suggestions/recommendations for me.