The Syntax Chronicles: Every day is the groundhog’s day?
As a developer with professional experience in IT training
When I applied for training at the Syntax Institut last year, I got the reaction from all sides: “Why are you applying for training aimed at programming beginners? Won’t you get bored?” … No. So! Article done. And yes, I was joking, of course.
Let’s get to the medium-length answer: no, because there is enough learning material in the training at the Syntax Institut that I don’t know yet, and you never know what you don’t know. Apart from that, I almost never get bored.
The Syntax Institut Curriculum
Of course, the Syntax Institut curriculum does not only cover programming basics during the 12 months. You might think that two months of programming basics could be quite boring, but I’ll go into why that’s not the case later. Besides this one module, there are always three other modules, most of which are unknown to me. Yes, I’ve played around with Adobe Xd, privately analysed the structure of existing apps and websites, and individually designed apps, but I’ve never really learned anything about UX/UI design. Medium articles and YouTube videos alone don’t count as proper training for me — and rightly so.
We do not know what we do not know
The two months of UX/UI design lessons alone confirmed to me once again that it is wiser to assume that you might know a little bit, but you don’t know much more. Of course, I already had experience with Adobe Xd, but some of Figma’s functions are structured so differently that it would have been negligent if I hadn’t listened carefully in class. With my previous knowledge, I would never have been able to create designs like the ones I can now create after the module. Added to this is new knowledge about Material Design and the Human Interface Guidelines, knowledge about different types of user tests and much more. What I knew before was about the size of a teaspoon, while what I have newly learned is like a big mixing bowl. And this despite the fact that I had already dealt with the subject before. The devil is in the detail.
Basics, basics and again: basics?
Of course. Basics are important. Especially if you are a career changer. Short training courses of up to 3 months never cover them sufficiently. You try to teach yourself everything of course, but once you are out of the training, the pressure to find a job as quickly as possible increases. You may be more busy writing applications and preparing for interviews than you are able to concentrate on the material you are trying to learn on your own. You don’t want to make a fool of yourself at the interviews and hopefully have a job soon.
That’s why it’s actually an advantage to be able to concentrate on the learning material and try things out in a safe environment — which is what further education should be at best. You can always exchange ideas with experienced teachers to discover something you didn’t know before or to compensate for weaknesses you had.
So no, I don’t mind going through basics even for the twentieth time. Especially because of my mantra: You don’t know what you don’t know.
Use time wisely during programming basics
While it’s good to go over basics again and again, that doesn’t mean that while you’re going over them again, that’s all you need to focus on.
As I have written before, on the one hand you can improve your soft skills in the position as a mentor during the time, but of course more is possible. Because no matter how conscientiously you dedicate yourself to the need for programming basics, it can admittedly become quite boring.
Personally, I use this time to familiarise myself with topics that I don’t yet know or don’t know enough about. Once the day’s tasks have been completed and my buddy can manage on his own, it’s time to get to grips with the innovations in the previously known technologies or to acquire new skills. Or, out of one’s own pocket, do some other further training on the side, which perhaps has more to do with your profession in a broader sense.
In my spare time, I’m taking a Coursera course to acquire cybersecurity analyst knowledge. Because… why not? Especially in our times, this knowledge can be very useful.
Time is what you make of it
Anyone can be bored if you let them. Or make the best of the time. Most developers I know won’t be bored, because — if I assess it correctly — it’s simply not in the nature of developers to be bored.
After all, a natural thirst for knowledge and curiosity is one of the basic requirements of a developer’s job.
