Ask HN: What can I do to make sure that I don't lose my coding skills | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What can I do to make sure that I don't lose my coding skills

9 pointslolu7 comments

I studied computer science and did a couple of software development internships as a student. I love programming and building stuff however less than a year after graduating, I'm working in marketing for a tech company and writing code is not part of my job description. These days I hardly write code and it eats away at me. What can I do to make sure I don't lose interest in coding or lose my coding skills?

View on HN

First Choose a framework you enjoy working in.

I always recommend Rails or Laravel since I enjoy those.

Then build a basic web app to scratch an itch you have.

ToDo/Planner, Private Social Network for your close friends or family, Budgeting Tool, Tracking something you collect (Albums, Legos, etc), geo location is interesting, QR Codes maybe a scavenger hunt app for you and your friends (setup QR codes around town with clues).

Whatever you choose, use it, extend it, update it over time, keep a list of features and improvements you want to do. When you feel like coding pick one and implement it.

If you lose interest in your app. Start a new one.

If you want learn React, Angular or Vue on top of a Rails/Laravel app.

Buy a domain, use Git, Deploy your app to Digital Ocean to build up your skills/knowledge.

If you're interested checkout the StartUpsForTheRestOfUs podcast if you have an interest in starting your own thing eventually.

Good Luck, have fun keeping your coding skills sharp.

Pretty much what other have said: if you want to retain the ability to code, you're going to have to keep coding. The bare minimum would be running through the exercises on various coding sites, such as HackerRank. What would be best is to devote a weekend a month (more if you can afford the time) to actually building something, be it a mobile app, web site, etc. for something that interests you.

Also, bear in mind that the farther along you go in your career, the harder it becomes to switch tracks. If you go more than a decade without coding professionally, it may be hard to get yourself considered for a coding job by many employers without an exceptional demonstration of your coding skills.

I feel like there's a point you hit where once you code enough you will NEVER forget how to code. All these patterns and concepts are burned into my brain with the power of 1000 suns. Even if I wanted to I couldn't forget.

I will have to disagree with the previous answers. You don't have to WRRITE code to stay up to date. You can READ one or more books about programming. That's what I do, and it is a thousand times more efficient than simply writing code just for the sake of it, because you get to learn new stuff in the process.

Programming.

I forget the code I wrote last week and how it works.

Gotta keep coding.

Then you didn't fully understand what you were writing in the first place.

Code things?

I'm not trying to be a snarky asshole: the best thing you can do is build some things.

Maybe you can start by automating some chore you do for work.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com