
What would you do to dramatically improve your programming skills in 3 months? - chriscls
If you had 3 months and basic-intermediate programming skills, what would you do level up and how would you measure your progress? I&#x27;m looking to build a learning routine into my day to day and interested to hear what great programmers would advise. Thanks!
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itamarst
Presuming a full 3 months of free time:

1\. Pick a project that is either very time limited ("I will build a compiler
in 5 days") or something you will actually use to solve a problem fairly
quickly. Otherwise you're just spinning your wheels or building too many
features. More here: [https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/09/09/side-
projects/](https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/09/09/side-projects/)

Notice that normal job writing software usually has both those aspects: actual
need, actual deadlines.

2\. At end of every day (or week), notice what you've done wrong and what cues
and models you were missing that led to that mistake. (I do this here:
[https://softwareclown.com](https://softwareclown.com)).

3\. Spend an hour a day learning about existing technologies and what they're
good for. Go for breadth, as many things as possible, not depth. If you want
to choose one in depth, focus on one that's related to your current knowledge
([https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/04/27/which-
technology/](https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/04/27/which-technology/)).

4\. Read some good books, watch some good videos, try to apply what you've
learned. E.g.
[https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/boundaries](https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/boundaries)
and
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29MAL8pJImQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29MAL8pJImQ)
will take you quite far).

5\. Only work 40 hours a week. Even better, 32. Working shorter hours will
force you to focus on achieving your "X-in-a-week" project by being smarter
about it, instead of brute force working longer.
([https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-
so...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2016/11/10/work-life-balance-software-
engineer/))

6\. Try to write up what you've learned every week. Explaining something to
someone else improves your learning.

~~~
chriscls
Thank you!

~~~
itamarst
No problem. If you change title to have "Ask HN" prefix you might get more
answers (but it might be too late to change it? could ping mods if it is).

~~~
chriscls
Moved to here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14405109](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14405109)

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boznz
A 3 Month Holiday wouldn't improve my programming skill but I am sure as hell
it will make me a better programmer

