What is currently worth focusing on for general longevity in this field?
I'd say if you feel stuck and feel like you are not progressing, it might the right time to look for a new challenge?
That turned into trying out simple hello world programs and eventually I found it started becoming way more interesting than my current job and found a job using it.
A lot of my network often read books and attend conferences so there's that too (not my cup of tea but everyone's got their preferred outlet)
After being in the field for a little while you come to realize that languages are just dialects on the same core, new tech and frameworks are mostly just different wrapping, and that the core tenets and fundamentals that you know will always be there in some form.
What will help you with longevity are things that are not traditionally looked at as SWE skills. Things like empathy for users and other developers, communication skills, being able to iteratively create user value, understanding costs of delays and that perfect is rarely what we want, etc, etc, etc.. Solving logic issues with algorithms is such a minute part of what we do, and the part most likely to be automated at some point.
If you're already a solid developer with a breadth of experience then read widely. Just keep reading, take notes, save your notes. Studying software architecture over the long-haul will offer the most return of any topic.
- Sleep
- Adequate diet
- Sitting and doing nothing (what we did before the Internet)
- Reading up on emerging tech and development things
IMHO these, especially the first 4, are all vital to staying sharp and preventing burnout and overwhelm and other performance issues.
Even if you don't participate in his contest of sorts and just some of them for yourself, it could be worthwhile for learning.
There are a million things I would rather think about after getting off work than software development.
At work, more important than software engineering skills, I make sure that I never become a ticket taker and make sure I’m doing something with larger scope, impact and “ambiguity”.
Only work, i.e. producing, creating something, getting your hands dirty.
Beware also about the simple fact that most of so called youtube experts are only experts in youtube. By design.
Real experts are busy engineering things. You can’t be both because each area is extremely time and energy consuming.
> I’m not learning any new skills and maybe falling behind the industry
Welcome to reality. You are not falling behind. Majority of work “in the industry” is like this - boring, repetitive, not challenging.
Only challenging goal will push you to raise the skill bar.
Challenging software engineering goal == complex problem that you think is _almost_ beyond your current abilities.
Good books are well researched and help you build knowledge from the ground up... Although they might age pretty quick, it is by far faster reading than watching Videos where the creators Main purpose is mostly to market a campus membership while keeping the really useful stuff behind a paywall.