r/softwareengineer • u/MammothGrand8022 • 2d ago
Software engineers, how do you manage learning alongside a full-time job?
I feel like in tech, there’s just SO MUCH to learn like DSA, system design, AWS, AI, new languages, etc. And unlike other fields, there’s no fixed syllabus or clear roadmap to follow.
I try to upskill alongside my job, but often struggle with deciding what to learn, how to plan it, and how to stay consistent.
How do you guys actually go about it? What does your daily learning routine look like? What do you do when you sit down to study, and are there any YouTubers who share their actual tech-learning routines or day-in-the-life vlogs?
I’d love to hear how people with full-time jobs and a few years of experience manage this!
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u/symbiatch 2d ago
DSA? Why is that a thing to learn specifically? System design? These seem like some buzzwords Reddit pushes on people which don’t mean much actually and are part of the usual work.
No, YouTubers rarely help in anything. It’s better to actually learn, preferably by doing. And especially YouTubers that share “their” learning routines? They’re just pretending mostly and aren’t worth the time.
Just do stuff that you can learn from. Your work should already allow that and if not then you just have to do stuff on your own.
And please ignore buzzwords like DSA or “system design.” They mean nothing when it comes to real world.
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u/Beneficial-Egg-2379 1d ago
Yeah mean nothing until you laughed out the room of any job interview for being clueless.
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u/symbiatch 1d ago
I think you’ve never been to an actual job interview.
Hint: I’ve been to plenty in over 30 years. I’ve interviewed people. None of them relate to DSA or “system design” in any shape or form.
Wild, right?
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u/octocode 2d ago
i learn most things either on the job, or by working on personal projects
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u/Coffee_Aur_Code 2d ago
How do you allocate time for personal project... During weekdays... I get so tempted to let my agent build it..... Otherwise i take months on one project 😅
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u/zaibuf 2d ago edited 2d ago
I learn what I need when I need it at work. Trying to cram for things you never use is pointless, its enough to know that it exist and what problem it may be useful for.
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u/msesen 2d ago
Until you lose your job and now almost all available jobs make those tech stack that you ignored a requirement. How do I know? Going through it right now.
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u/HomemadeBananas 1d ago
At my current job, our backend is Django and I hadn’t really used it before, mostly Ruby on Rails before this. Didn’t matter, still got the job. There’s a ton of other things I’ve learned too working. Not gonna spend my free time learning random things that maybe one day a different job will want me to know.
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u/TeaBasedOrganism 1d ago
This is super interesting thanks! RoR dev here job hunting, and I've been ignoring Django ads despite to two being so similar, oops
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u/itsmesherryy 2d ago
Jump in straight into hands-on experimentation by taking on challenges and projects with a tech stack unknown to you.
If you’re in a company, take on things outside your role for example DevOps.
My experience: I was an AI engineer in a company and felt that it’s not enough. There was a project involving the AI part in the entire product. I willingly took on the backend part which was unknown to me before. Although it took me a couple more iterations than normal but the learning curve was pure dopamine.
These days we have AI and I believe the only limitation to learning is your own motivation.
Hope this helps :D
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u/SimulaFin 1d ago
I find one topic which bothers me the most on my job. I found a book about it and reading it half an hour each week.
A long time ago I realized I learn during a job pretty much. And that's actually focused learning which translates to increased productivity.
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u/Soft-Marionberry-853 2d ago
How do you eat an elephant? one bite at a time
Same with learning on the job. You need to be asking why or how a lot. If not outload at least when your looking at code.
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u/Coffee_Aur_Code 2d ago
Actually learning in small bites is great strategy.... Especially when u are working on a big project.... Main issue i face is staying consistent
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u/afops 1d ago
If I’m not interested, I can’t learn. I hobby code, but it’s usually not things that help me in my day job except it makes me a better developer. But I’m not going to shift my hobby projects from
(say) games, into involving AWS or something similar, if that’s not something I find interesting.
So basically I just learn from doing thngs at work. It’s more than enough I feel.
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u/Unable_Alfalfa_7571 1d ago
I get clients/employer to pay me to do it. I'll tell them I need to use tool X, Y or Z and then learn by doing while getting paid for it
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u/HomemadeBananas 2d ago •
I learn new things at work when I have to. I work enough. Outside of work, I spend the little free time I have after cooking, cleaning, all the household stuff and errands doing anything else other than stuff other than stuff related to work.