Having good communication skills is a must when it comes to training other developers and when it comes to teaching in general. I cannot imagine a software development trainer that cannot communicate successfully with his students. Good communication skills will lead to a better understanding of the student's difficulties and allow better optimization of the training.

Good Trainers Should Be Strong Communicators

As with any other type of education, listening to others is crucial when it comes to adjusting and fine-tuning the software development training we deliver. I believe that every software development trainer should practice their listening skills. The more we practice, the better listeners we become. The better listeners we become, the better software development training we deliver. Practicing our skills to listen to others is not difficult, and the benefits from doing so won't be limited to our software development training skills.

Listening Skills Contribute To Better Training

Software development technologies continuously change, and new ones emerge. Whether it is a new programming language, a new platform, a new framework, or a new library, we should stay tuned and continuously learn and update our professional skills. Teaching old technologies is misleading, and it won't be fair to our students. Given the huge range of new, continuously evolving software development technologies and given the limited time we have, there is no choice but to pick those technologies we want to learn and avoid the others.

Software Development Trainer Must Continuously Learn

It is always essential to keep an open mind and learn from others. This applies to everyone, including teachers and especially software development trainers. Software development trainers shouldn't limit their learning from other trainers. They can learn even from their students. Technologies change so fast that it is absolutely possible to experience training through which the trainer learns from the students. Collaborating with open source projects can be useful as well. It can take the trainer’s professional skills to the next level.

Good Trainers Collaborate With Others

When delivering professional software development training, it is highly important to adapt the teaching to the student's skills, prior knowledge, and experience. Training experienced developers will never be the same as training fresh students doing their first steps. The adaptation should take before the training starts and during the activity itself. The adaptation should also include the adjustment of the training methods. Some students prefer having a trainer coding with them, while others might prefer coming to class and getting code samples that were already prepared. Some students might prefer detailed explanations that include some rehearsal of topics they should already be familiar with, while others might prefer to avoid them.

Software Development Training Adaptation Skills

You cannot learn properly how to use a specific library or a specific framework without mastering the programming language for which the library or the framework was developed. You cannot learn how to develop web applications using Angular without learning properly TypeScript in advanced (for those who don’t know, software development with Angular is usually done in TypeScript). You cannot learn how to develop applications for the Android platform without learning Java first. You cannot learn how to develop using jQuery without knowing JavaScript. There are many more examples I can give. The bottom line, there are no shortcuts.

Learning The Programming Language First

When both Microsoft and Adobe started to adopt HTML5 it was clear to everyone that both Flash and Silverlight will no longer be the dominant technologies in developing the front end of web applications. The shift was very fast. As a result, it became difficult to find experienced front end developers. This shortage was an excellent opportunity for whoever wanted to become a software developer. Taking a course and finding a job in front end development has become a very popular path. It all happened nearly 10 years ago. The shortage disappeared and in addition, the front end development domain continued to evolve so fast that learning its top frameworks, such as Angular and React, is not simple and it usually requires a strong background in object-oriented programming. The unique opportunity for taking a course and easily find a job in front end development isn't the same as it used to be.

Becoming a Professional FED

Unlike many other domains, in software development, it is relatively easy to identify whether the software developer properly does his work or not. The relatively high salaries in software development are the result of the difficulties to find and hire software developers. With time, more and more companies reach the conclusion that usually it is more profitable to hire one talented developer than ten (and even more) average ones. The talented developer might be capable of completing a job that even a hundred average ones won’t be able to complete. Companies don’t really care how does the software developer look like, whether he has a mustache or horns… and therefore they also don’t really care about the age. The only thing that counts is how good he is as a software developer. Unfortunately, most developers stop their professional evolution when getting older. They stop taking new courses, their learning capability is damaged and as a result of that they are no longer the great attractive software developers they used to be.

The Importance of Age in Software Development

During the last years, we can identify two types of software developers. The first type is of the talented ones. Those experienced ones who are usually already familiar with a huge range of programming languages, frameworks, and libraries. The other type is of the less experienced ones. The experienced ones are usually also the ones with better programming capabilities and are also usually the ones who are capable of designing and developing big complex systems. The difference between the salaries of talented developers and the salaries of all others continuously grows and become bigger and bigger. Especially when the employer is an attractive big company, like Facebook, Google, and Amazon. It is in the hands of every developer whether to take any action and try to become a talented one or remain in his comfort zone and settle with the relatively low salary he receives.

Becoming a Talent in Software Development

I am a professional software development trainer and consultant. I assist software developers and software development companies keeping up with the endless evolution of new technologies, including new programming languages, frameworks, and platforms.

life michael

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