Forem: Lucas Chitolina

The Best Way to Use ChatGPT to Your Advantage

Lucas Chitolina — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 15:02:29 +0000

ChatGPT 🤖 probably already knows more than you. Use this to your advantage (in a healthy way):

An AI today has a breadth of knowledge and a range of information access that’s hard for a human to match. Just as humans will never beat artificial intelligence in chess, we may also never know as much as an AI.

But just as humans didn’t stop playing chess, this doesn’t mean we’ll stop working or that we can’t use ChatGPT to our advantage.

A practical example

To illustrate, here’s an example of how we can use AI to help us and increase the added value of our work:

Let’s say you’re integrating an email-sending API for the first time. You studied the documentation and already know you need:

an API key
an email template
variables for each email

However, there may be things you haven’t anticipated that could go wrong. The AI, on the other hand, has broad knowledge of common implementation pitfalls. That’s why I’ve recently been using this prompt to predict cases I might not have considered:

What technical, performance, and security issues might I face when integrating an email-sending API in a production environment with real user needs? How can I ensure reliability, efficiency, and compliance over time?

You can replace “an email-sending API” with whatever you need.

Here are two points from the response it gave me:

Daily limits: Some services may include a daily limit, for example, 100 emails per day.
Deliverability: Emails landing in spam, affecting the user experience.

The takeaway here is not to see AI as a competitor, but as a tool to enhance your daily work. After all, learning from it is an intelligent way to boost what you already know and deliver even better work.

Pay attention to what you are doing

The most IMPORTANT thing of all is to remember:

💡Always make sure you understand what ChatGPT has responded to. Don’t follow what it’s saying without understanding. This is how you’ll learn while using AI to your advantage.

Don’t outsource your brain for AI to do everything for you, as it may soon be easier to talk directly to the AI than to ask you to do something.

Give your opinion

Do you have more tips on using AI in a useful and healthy way in daily life?

Contribute here in the comments 👇

the marc lou drama and security lessons

Lucas Chitolina — Sat, 26 Oct 2024 12:29:13 +0000

People are canceling Marc Lou on the internet.

In recent days, one of the most influential figures in the indie hacking community has been facing harsh criticism over security vulnerabilities in his product. To summarize, Marc’s product is Ship Fast, a SaaS boilerplate with the promise of "Ship your startup in days, not weeks."

Some of the main vulnerabilities include: a lack of validation in the email API, username validation only on the frontend, and, most critically in my opinion, a method that allowed users to bypass payment and access the product for free.

All these vulnerabilities have raised doubts about the product's capabilities and the philosophy behind "Ship Fast."

In this post, I want to defend this philosophy and clarify that it isn’t about launching things hastily or irresponsibly but rather about delivering only what’s essential as quickly as possible (and yes, security is non-negotiable).

The essence of "ship fast" is to get feedback in short cycles, where the primary goal is to validate acceptance and functionality with agility. For example, when launching something new, it’s not crucial to include email integrations, mobile versions, reports, or platform integrations right off the bat. The focus is on launching the core version first and then adjusting, optimizing, and improving based on user feedback – and doing so in a safe and responsible way.

I don’t believe Marc acted in bad faith; I just think that security was underestimated. Given his considerable revenue across products, he could have easily hired a security consultant, which would even be a smart strategic move.

Ultimately, I think we’ve all learned something from this whole ordeal: security and quality should not be sacrificed for the sake of speed. At the end of the day, people are using your product, and the weight of a security guarantee is far greater than a feature you’re not even sure anyone needs.

What do you think? Tell me in the comments

someone had the same saas idea as me

Lucas Chitolina — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 23:49:47 +0000

It's time to panic and try another thing.

End of the article.

Of course not

I had the idea for this article when brainstorming ideas for my SaaS. I already had everything planned—how I would do it, everything. Then... the bad news: a big competitor that's already in the market released the exact same idea as me

I'm not gonna lie, it's exactly the same thing, but with the difference that the competitor already has all the know-how and market presence to pull it off.

Well, if you've made it this far, you already know that simply giving up on the idea and trying something else is not an option. That's because you believed in your idea, right? Sure, an idea without execution is worthless, but if this has been on your mind for days and you had everything planned, giving up at the first sign of competition isn't an option. If you see potential in it, it doesn't matter if someone else is already doing it.

And if you keep quitting every time someone does the same thing, or even better, you'll never build any SaaS.

Next, I'll go over some practical steps you can follow because your idea is at least worth a shot. But before I do, I need to make an essential disclaimer: I'm speaking to solo entrepreneurs and micro SaaS makers—I don't have traditional startups or companies in mind while writing this.

That being said, let's go:

Maybe that's the market of your product

The first thing we need to remove from our minds is the idea that innovation means something 100% new, something that doesn't exist yet. Man, at least all of my ideas have been done before, or at least someone has thought of the same things I have.

If the problem you thought of solving is urgent for your customers and the demand is clear, you can be sure that your category is likely crowded with competitors vying for market share:

Innovation isn’t just about doing something new. Even the same problem can have multiple ways to solve it. You are different from your competitors, and of course, you'll have different ways to deliver value to your customers.

Focus on being specific, smart, and fast

You have fewer customers, so here's an opportunity to niche down and focus on a smaller, more specific target market. While your competitor is focused on a broader audience, you can be more specific and deliver exactly what your customers want.

Because you're small and just starting out, you have nothing to lose. You can try different things and pay closer attention to user feedback.

I currently pay for tons of software that I don't use at least 20% of the features. I have specific use cases, and an easy-to-use product can quickly catch my attention, even if it has fewer features than competitors.

As a solo founder, you get to move fast and make changes without dealing with all the red tape. This means you can jump on trends and tweak things for customers in real time. Just get your MVP out there, and improve it as you go based on feedback—no need to wait for everything to be perfect before launching.

And if you're competing against a giant

Even a giant has its weak points. Maybe their solution is so bloated that it can no longer sustain itself. (but be honest with yourself, you won't be the one to take down Apple)

The most important takeaway from this article is that there's room for everyone.

I hope this article resonates with someone out there, but honestly, it's as much a reminder to myself as it is advice for anyone else. Sometimes we just need to put our thoughts down and reflect. So if you're feeling stuck or doubting your path, remember—there's always a way forward.

References:

https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/pmf-framework/
https://colinscotland.com/what-it-means-to-niche-down-and-how-to-do-it/

Read my latest articles:

https://dev.to/lucaschitolina/not-learning-new-things-at-work-is-destroying-your-career-34g9

https://dev.to/lucaschitolina/what-months-of-failing-in-my-habits-taught-me-3198

💣Not Learning New Things at Work is Destroying Your Career

Lucas Chitolina — Tue, 04 Jun 2024 20:44:56 +0000

Goals with this article

In this article, I want to focus on these points:

Explain the rule of hooks and how this motivated me to write this article.
Sometimes, we don't have time to learn at work, this is a problem
Identifying and noting new concepts for future study is a key skill.
Share my approach of compiling new themes on Saturday mornings and studying the most relevant ones.
Talk about the importance of continuous learning to avoid becoming complacent with routine workflows.

The motivation behind this article

I was working on a project at my job this week and came across a common React error that some of you have probably seen before.

Can you guess the error by looking at the example code below?

I've lost count of how many times I've caused this error and how many times I've managed to resolve it.

The error happens because, in React, hooks must be called in the same order every time a component renders to maintain consistent state management.

This happens because React uses a linked list to keep track of the hooks in a component. When hooks are called in the same order each time a component renders, React can correctly associate the hook calls with the state and effects they manage. If the order changes, React can’t reliably match hook calls with their previous state, leading to bugs.

So calling hooks at the top level of your React function ensures ordering is maintained.

But what does this have to do with the title of the article?

As I mentioned earlier, this is not the first time I've encountered this error. Since the first time I resolved it, the situation has become almost automatic: I encounter this error, I fix it, and I move on until the next time.

The problem is that, even though I know how to fix it, I never truly understood why it happened. I never took the time to study and thoroughly read the official documentation Rules of Hooks to understand it.

And this is the main issue:

In the workplace, our main goal is to complete tasks and deliver results.

This isn’t exclusive to the case of hooks and it doesn’t happen rarely. Almost every day, we find opportunities to do something better or learn something new, but often, due to the rush of routine, we can’t stop and study. If the task is done, at that moment, that’s what matters.

The AI era

This situation has been increasing with the rise of AI in recent years. Nowadays, it’s much easier to find an error and, in a moment of haste, ask ChatGPT to solve it. We no longer need to spend so much time searching forums or documentation to try to understand and resolve issues.

I'm not naive enough to think that every programmer knows 100% of what they’re doing or that they deliver the best possible version; many deliver code that could be improved or done in better ways. Using AI to fill these gaps is a very important skill today, but you can’t allow yourself to fall behind.

You Fall Behind

This is the main way to differentiate a professional who will succeed in the future from one who will not. The successful professional can learn amidst the daily workflow, even if it's just a little, and most of the time can find time to understand what they are doing.

What You Can Start Doing Today to Improve This

One tip I have is to keep a document with frequent notes to study later.

It’s important not to get lost and let this document get too big. Curate it whenever you can so that your list doesn’t get too long and you end up never studying anything.

I like to use Obsidian (you can use any To-do app, even a calendar) because I can add notes by day; for example, I add to the following Saturday's daily note all the content I see during the week:

With this, I'm able to sit at my desk on Saturday and see each of the concepts I took note of. If it's just curiosity or a different way of doing something I already knew, I'll do it right there and give it a little study. If it's something more complex that will take a lot of time, I create a study plan or spend the whole morning delving deeper into the subject.

Remember that the main goal here is to keep track of your discoveries when you don't have time to go deep and understand.

More Things

I believe I have many cool things to share about how I organize my study and make the most of it. One of the main tools I use is Obsidian.

Let me know in the comments if you want an article about dev study organization in Obsidian.

Also, check my post about how you can learn new things: https://dev.to/lucaschitolina/my-approach-to-learn-tailwind-css-and-new-things-1n46

What Months of Failing in My Habits Taught Me

Lucas Chitolina — Thu, 02 May 2024 21:33:37 +0000

Creating a habit routine where you fail more than you succeed is the best way to your goals, although it might seem controversial.

The controversy lies in following a path of mistakes instead of a straight, practical, and quick tutorial of successes. In the fast-paced world we live in, making mistakes is synonymous with wasted time, and it is this mindset that we must detach from our minds if we seek to have authentic, personal, and valuable learning.

This is a documentation of my process of creating habits that assist my personal development, focusing mainly on how I returned to a daily reading routine.

Talking about Habits

You have surely found yourself thinking about life, all your goals and dreams that you have always dreamed of but realize that you are not taking the right course to achieve them. My goal was to return to reading, and this happened to me.

As a child, I was always addicted to books. I read The Chronicles of Narnia, spent weekends reading Harry Potter, and was enchanted by Lord of the Rings (still my favorite). I could read for hours without tiring and collected piles of books.

Gradually, this habit was lost; I could no longer read for hours or even find time for it. I began to ignore it and had other priorities, and reading was put aside.

What did not go away was the desire to return to reading, something that bothered me for years, as it was something I knew contributed a lot to my development, and I doubt anyone would disagree with the powers of good reading.

In recent months, I have been trying various plans and formulas to return to books, and here are some difficulties and solutions I found:

The Problem of a Perfect Manual

Reading has always been highly regarded by me and of great importance in my life, so I elevated this habit to the point of creating the illusion in my mind that I would need a perfect manual to execute this plan.

And then my attempts began. On a Thursday in September 2021, I made a file in Notion with my reading rules. I defined what would be an adequate read, an adequate time, a deadline, a goal, and an objective. I spent days on this activity, so much so that it only got ready after two days. On Saturday, I sat down to read with my manual in mind:

I needed to read for 1 hour
It needed to be uninterrupted reading
I needed to spend the final 15 minutes noting the best parts of the reading
I had to mark the quality of the reading (like apps that manage sleep), how I felt, etc.

All this added up to factors that I did not notice:

I had had a terrible night's sleep
I had chosen a very difficult book (because in my head I needed to start BIG, otherwise it wouldn't be worth it)
I created too much expectation for this first time

The result? A failure.

This is the point of seeking a perfect tutorial: It does not exist. All this idea of over-engineering, of trying to make an exaggerated plan of the essentials can be compared to the phenomenon of Overengineering.

Overengineering in Reading

Overengineering is providing a solution to a problem in an elaborate or complicated way, where a simpler solution can be demonstrated with the same efficiency and effectiveness of the original project.

It becomes very clear that the user in the image was only interested in a ramp and a bicycle. I was that user, and what I really needed was to sit in a chair and read a book. That was it and nothing more. There was no need for all the exaggeration of methods and steps that I created for a perfect read.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

I was in a scenario where my plans were not working out, and I needed something practical to read. That's when watching a recommended video, I discovered that the most important thing is to start with what you want to do and correct the trajectory during the process. More important than starting the right way is to start.

The video I mentioned is called: How to Become 37.78 Times better at Anything | Atomic Habits summary (by James Clear), and it is nothing more than a summary of the fantastic book Atomic Habits by James Clear from which I can separate the main points that helped me the most:

Becoming a Reader, Not Reading Books

Can you see the difference between becoming a reader and reading books? Many people focus on the results part and not on becoming the person they want to be.

I don't want to be a person who eats fruits and exercises, I want to be a healthy person; I don't want to play guitar, I want to be a musician. So, according to the theme of the article, I don't want to read books, I want to be a reader. But this was not clear to me initially.

Understanding that Progress is Not Linear

This might sound cliché but it is important to highlight because moments of disappointment will always come, it's normal. I needed to understand that half the success consisted of just picking up the book and starting, the rest was a consequence. Having bad days or feeling stagnant is part of it, it's natural and very common in people who try to have true and genuine results.

Get used to it, within healthy limits.

Defining Systems, Not Goals

Goals are limiting, and systems open the mind. Your goal is to read a 900-page book in a month, but in the end, you didn't manage because you lacked just 100 pages. The mindset of focusing on goals can make you ignore all the progress you made on 800 pages just because of those last 100. Focus on defining systems; that are more durable and focus on a bigger solution.

A system is something for life or as long as the planning of your habit lasts; a goal, even if successful, may end with the last page of a book. And then what do you do? Focus on creating a system.

Making the Habit Satisfactory

This is the lightest and most interesting of all, as I tell how I managed to combine the dreadful habit of waking up early with reading and having a coffee.

I had long wanted to read more, learn to appreciate and make good coffee, and wake up earlier. Well, I just combined all these to make it super successful.

I started waking up every day at 5:30 AM to make my coffee, learned new techniques for making it, and turned this into a fun part of my day; I discovered that I love testing the combinations of various types of coffee. Finally, I combined all this with a good book in the morning and ended up killing 3 habits with one stone.

Concluding

With this article, I tried to bring my experience of how making mistakes can bring benefits, provided the mistakes are healthy and not dangerous, and how this adds to the formation of a more personal, but genuine and more valuable learning.

I would like to make it clear that nothing here is a rule, nothing here is set in stone. Feel free to take excerpts and adapt them for yourself, or also feel free to take and ignore everything I said, if it doesn't work for you to read at 5:30 in the morning, ignore what I said and do exactly the opposite, I believe it will help you.

That's it and until next time 😁

References cited:

Book Atomic Habits: https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwiIgti5gIP3AhXPQUgAHe75AV0YABABGgJjZQ&sig=AOD64_2N5L_UcR7eXcF6NzSHXztptc3o0w&ctype=5&q=&ved=0ahUKEwjIkb-5gIP3AhXer5UCHeVmB6UQww8Ivwg&adurl=
How to become 37.78 times better at anything | Atomic Habits summary (by James Clear): https://youtu.be/PZ7lDrwYdZc

Check my last article:

https://dev.to/lucaschitolina/what-changes-when-your-code-impacts-thousands-of-people-58aa

What Changes When Your Code Impacts Thousands of People? 🤯

Lucas Chitolina — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 00:04:05 +0000

Introduction

When you create an application, you have at least one user: yourself. That's the primary purpose of creating something, you create for you or to someone. In many cases, programming often starts as a personal or casual endeavor but can quickly evolve into a critical, professional task.

What happens when your code transitions from personal projects to major impacts? What happens when people rely on you and your lines of code? Are we prepared enough to see our work change the real world?

The Dual Nature of Programming:

I think programming is unique in this respect: people can start programming without any intention of using it professionally in the future. For example, many people learned to program because they had a computer at home, they were curious and created a mod for a game they played. Programming has this peculiarity that what we do doesn't seem like real work, it's fun, or it was once fun.

For instance, I've never seen a lawyer who started studying law just for fun; deep down, they always had a professional goal in mind. This applies to other professions as well.

Much of the common stereotype of programmers contributes to this view; in movies, we are seen as nerds, schoolboys, and hackers. Our work, although very important to the world, has often been portrayed in the media as not so serious. Daily, many people depend on and use directly something that a programmer created, despite not realizing the true professionalism behind it.

Some companies in our field also perpetuate this belief, with perks like being paid in pizza after a night of coding, having ball pits and slides at the office, and being allowed to wear slippers at work.

One of the first steps to valuing our work comes from ourselves. Recognizing the professionalism behind programming is the first step toward truly valuing our work and its impact on the world.

From Dozens to Thousands

As our responsibilities grow, and our user base expands from dozens to thousands, the stakes rise. Not only does our approach to coding need to adapt, but our perception of our work must mature as well.

I learned to program in high school, at school. Back then, I had zero users, and my code wasn't even run by the teachers at the time. I made very simple programs: school grade calculators, small systems for calculating burger shop orders, etc.

Later, I moved to a kind of startup, where my code had fewer than 50 active users, that were workers of the startup. However, things started to change there.

Today, I work on a product that impacts thousands of users every day, millions of messages are processed on our servers every month. When I moved, the increased user base made me realize the weight of my responsibilities. It's not just about coding correctly; and using the latest tech; it's about understanding the professional impact of every decision you make

So, what can you do to handle this situation? Now that you know that you and your work are important, here are some advice:

Learn with the others

Continue to learn, not just through formal methods like courses and reading, but also by seeking mentorship and participating in communities. And when I talk of mentorship, I'm not only talking on professional mentors or tech influencers. I'm saying that you can go to that senior developer on your team and learn with him.

If this colleague has been in the project longer than you, maybe he faced the same troubles that you are facing today. He might have a different approach to the problems and can share a different point of view. Sometimes the best sources of knowledge are closer than we think.

Celebrate milestones:

You should recognize and celebrate the milestones in your programming career. Milestones must be small and measurable, otherwise they wouldn't be called that. Did you turn in a difficult assignment this week? Celebrate. Did you deliver that project on time and without bugs or incomplete tasks? Celebrate. If you leave it until the end to celebrate, you may never celebrate anything.

Celebrating these achievements will remind you of your progress and inspire continued effort and innovation.

Your slip-up can halt an operation, so think twice as hard

It's normal to receive complicated tasks with a lack of description or incomprehensible bugs. These tasks will demand more from you and can generate catastrophic scenarios if done wrong.

It’s not ideal to make this type of change without supervision or review, which is why we have QAs, tech leaders, and code reviews, but there will be times when you'll need to work under pressure.

I think there's no right answer to this; it depends a lot. Try to find an environment that permits you to commit errors and learn from them

Be confident and get the job done.

With Time, Things Will Get Easier

Yeah, they will. As time goes by, you will realize that you no longer have doubts about the terms that once caused you discomfort, you will see that you can do some things faster than before and perhaps you don't even realize it, but you have already naturalized your daily life, something that already it was a problem for you.

Things will get easier and you will find new harder things to do. That's a true signal that you are growing in your career.

See You When My Code Impacts Millions of People

And you, how many users does your code impact today? Do your work impact more than thousands? Share your experiences in the comments so other people can learn from the steps you made. And if your code doesn't influence thousands yet, how are you preparing to reach this milestone?

I'm always open to chat, just call me!

See you in the time when my code impacts millions of users, we will get there!

I don't get the point of Golang - That's why I need help

Lucas Chitolina — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 00:02:06 +0000

Hello everyone, I'm back. The past few days were crazy at my work, so many complicated tasks needed to get shipped and I couldn't write here.

Today I'm coming up with a different topic: I don't get the point of Golang - and I need help with it.

Contextualizing things up

Since the beginning of my career, I've always used node in most of my projects, from discord bots to complex backends. I feel a little comfortable with it, but I realized that my way of thinking is becoming tied to this technology.

So, I need fresh air and new things. That's why I want to give Go a chance.

Okay, I get it – when compared to other languages, Go is known for its simplicity and the plethora of benefits it offers. But I don't want to fall into a trap that will solve Go-specific use cases tasks but with a Node mind.

I also don't get the point of it (as the title says). What different or specific things *need * to be done in Go that I can't do with Node?

I want to invite more experienced people, people who have been on the two sides, people who are learning one of these two amazing techs, to join start a discussion here with a main question:

What can I do with Go that I can't do with Node?

Feel free to join in the comments:

I've been using VIM for a Week - These Are My Impressions

Lucas Chitolina — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 00:56:50 +0000

Since we are programmers, there are a lot of different things to learn. Some of these things are career essentials and others are non-essential things that can add to our work in different ways.

Vim is one of these things.

In this article, I'm going to share my experience, how I'm feeling in these first few days, this kind of thing... Let's start with two important disclaimers:

I will not teach what is VIM or how to use it. As says in the title, is been a weekend since I started, so I don't know how to teach somebody. Instead, watch this:
I don't think a true coder is the one who uses VIM, terminals, and old programming language (the stereotype of a VIM fan). In my career, I've seen many good developers who don't even know what is VIM and they can deliver an outstanding job.

Having said that, let's get started.

So, why VIM?

Vim is pretty old and its uses cause a long debate. My main motivation for learning VIM is to reduce mouse use, even my mouse being an ergo one, I feel a lot of pain in my wrists, a kind of burning in my hand. The pain gets worse as the week goes on. I think that a life with the less use of mouse as possible will be better for my wrist and my productivity, so, this is my main goal with this whole thing.

Don't start directly with vim, instead, use your editor extension

You don't need to dive in head-first to start this. If you use VS Code, Webstorm, or any other editor that supports VIM plugins or extensions, go to this way. This will drastically reduce your barrier to entry and will help you stick to it.

You will discover that learning VIM is fun

I don't know if this happens to everyone, but I love to learn a new thing (if it will be useful too, it's a perfect match!). Learning how to use VIM motions is teaching me about my coding habits and showing me better ways to do the things I'm used to.

Not everything is flowers

However, the transition hasn't been entirely smooth. Initially, I found the different modes to be a significant shift from the typical text-editing experience. Remembering the commands and getting used to not reaching for the mouse took deliberate effort and got me stuck sometimes. The worst part was (and continues to be) cutting and pasting text, a seemingly simple task, was the one that I stumbled the most, sometimes resulting in lost code or duplicated lines.

These moments were good to show that the learning curve on how to use VIM in the best way is still enormous.

You need to have a cheat sheet by your side

This is one of the best pieces of advice that I can give to someone in this topic. Like in the old days when I was at school learning how to code in C, the teacher wrote the language commands on the board so that we could learn as we were coding. I tried to rescue this technique and I always have an Obsidian file opened so I can quickly check a command when I get stuck.

You don't need to optimize everything

Again, the fun of learning something is to keep making mistakes until a better path emerges and you realize what you were doing wrong so you can make better use of the good side of what you learned. You don't need to optimize everything. Try to achieve a moment that you can feel comfortable with your tools and environment.

Stick to what you is used to

If learning VIM starts to impede your workflow significantly, it's okay to revert to your familiar setup. The goal is to integrate VIM into your workflow without compromising your efficiency or the quality of your work.

Your job is to deliver value not learn how to type better

While learning VIM is very common to be stuck in something or do wrong or even slower things while you are learning the best mode. Like in Chess, you need to have time to do the wrong things to figure out what are the best things.

Even if you think "But indirectly, if I type faster or be more productive, they (customer, leader, team) will care about it, of course, it is important to them". Yes, that is but it is something that must be done indirectly, without concentrated effort to do so.

If you feel that you are stuck or delivering your job slower, stop, take a rest, exit VIM plugin and just code the way you are used to. This will be better because you can still learn and still deliver value. Remember: your boss, your team or your customer don't care the way you type things in the computer, they need value.

Final thoughts

And you? Do you use VIM? Want to join me in this? Have more tips to share with the ones who want to enter this world?

Feel free to share your comments below:

My Approach to Learn Tailwind CSS and New Things

Lucas Chitolina — Sat, 03 Feb 2024 13:27:47 +0000

(The inspiration for this came from a video by Theo: Your Goals Kinda Suck - LEVEL UP As A Developer I thought the way he illustrated it was really cool and coincidentally it was very similar to what I do, but I had never seen my thoughts illustrated like that.)

The daily life of a programmer, whether they are a beginner or experienced, is marked by the continuous learning of new tools and technologies. This fact is well-trodden ground in our field, and I don't intend to delve too deeply into it.

What I propose with this article is to show how I go about learning a new technology, using my recent experience with Tailwind CSS as an example. I'll discuss the means, content formats I prefer, and paths I choose from the myriad options available on the internet.

What is Tailwind CSS

Tailwind: for many, it's a step backward; for others, it's progress.

CSS is difficult. At the beginning, in smaller projects, it may be easy to write and create new things, but as the project grows, the complexity of CSS increases, and things can get a bit messy.

In general, Tailwind is nothing more than a compilation of utility classes that can be used together to compose the style of a component. This way of writing CSS keeps pace with the evolution of the web, which has a much more recent history than programming in general and undergoes frequent changes and evolutions.

This article will not delve too much into the technical specifics of Tailwind. For that, I suggest a series of tweets from Cory House:

Hands-on

With the introductory part out of the way, let's move on to where I want to show the approach I take when learning a new technology.

There are two points I like to consider:

What's the motivation
Where I want to get

These two points are important because they provide direction and the necessary motivation to start. So let's understand a bit more about these two points:

First point: What's the motivation

The motivation to study Tailwind CSS came from work-related reasons. The team decided to use it in a new project, and that's more than enough motivation for study.

This is a very specific case where the demand exists. I need to study to deliver quality and efficiency to the company I work for.

First point check ✅, let's move to the next.

Second point: Where I want to get

This point often causes the most indecision and is where people most often fail when defining a study plan. Goals should be achievable and tangible. In another article of mine, "What failing in my habits taught me" I pose the following challenge about being a reader:

In this case, things are no different. It's very vague to define a goal as "Learn Tailwind CSS." Where does this lead? What will you be when you learn? How long will this take? A lifetime?

The problem with a goal like this is that you can't draw clear plans; the path becomes vague, and your chances of giving up in the middle of the process significantly increase.

Think of the illustration above as the circle being a barrier, a stage you must reach. This stage is learning Tailwind. There is a path to reach this stage. In fact, there are many paths.

There are many paths

This might be a bit cliché but it's important to say again. Without clear goals of where you want to go, the paths become tortuous, and often you don't reach them because you got lost along the way.

Defining a tangible goal

To avoid this, I needed to define a more realistic goal. I switched "Learn Tailwind CSS" to "be able to apply Tailwind in a project" (remember the comparison with becoming a reader vs reading books). The four points from the image were as follows:

Understand what utility classes are
Understand the main differences of Tailwind and how to use my current knowledge of CSS
Write code (!!!)
Deepen knowledge in videos, documentation, and more code.

Thus, I achieved my goal, managed to learn Tailwind to apply it in a project, and am now ready to work on my company's project with quality and efficiency.

There will be more circles

However, the journey doesn't end there. I can't say that I know everything about Tailwind, nor that I can get by in day-to-day life without consulting anything. That would be lying to myself. The learning will continue, other circles and goals will come, and the process will become easier, more natural, until the next technology comes along.

And this sums up the life of a programmer, a constant sequence of seeking learning and updating.

Please share your thoughts in the comments on this topic. It will be great to discuss and see different opinions and perspectives

Until the next contents👋

Channels, references, and content that helped me:

Why It's Harder Than Ever to Learn Something New in 2024

Lucas Chitolina — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:25:46 +0000

Every day, a kind of paradox is perceived by people trying to learn something on the internet: the variety and availability of content have increased, yet we can hardly choose what content to consume.

I'm sure you have a huge list of courses you want to take, several books to read, and an even longer list of videos to "watch later". You have practically an entire library at your disposal, but you can't start anything.

This happens to me more often than I'd like. I always spend too much time analyzing what to study, and when I finally choose something, it takes only a few minutes to start thinking that I'm wasting time and could be doing something more productive.

In this article, I try to explain a bit about what happens in this difficulty of decision-making and show the way I try to avoid this choice paralysis.

There's So Much to Choose From, But There's Also a Lot of Noise

This phenomenon of choice overload, although discussed here in the context of technical content, is not limited to this sphere. It extends to many other aspects of modern life, including how we consume entertainment. A recent study reveals that Netflix users spend, on average, 17.8 minutes browsing possible series and movie options before selecting something.

This pattern of hesitation and uncertainty in the face of multiple options reflects a broader challenge we face: the difficulty of making decisions in a world full of possibilities.

Peter Drucker, a visionary in the field of management, perfectly captured this condition of modern society when he stated:

"For the first time, a substantial and growing number of people have a choice. And society is totally unprepared to deal with it."

Drucker's observation deeply portrays the current context, where an abundance of choices, whether in education, entertainment, or any other area, often results in paralysis instead of freedom.

Back to the realm of technical content, there are two possible explanations for why this paralysis happens:

Producing content has become cheaper
The content reaches more and more people.

Producing content, especially technical ones, has become cheaper compared to the past. Until not long ago, to create something, you had to contact a publisher, have expensive filming and audio equipment, and go through a long and complex process.

Today, with the help of the internet and the democratization of production, practically anyone with technical knowledge can create and share content. The fact that any course, video, or tutorial arrives as a notification to several people's devices has resulted in an explosion in the volume of available material.

The real cost of a bad course

When you invest in a course that doesn't meet your expectations, it's not just the money that hurts. The real cost is in the time and energy you invested, resources that are irreversible and more valuable than money. There's also the pain of regret, the constant "what if" question: what if you had chosen that other course that seemed more promising? This doubt can be more exhausting than the financial loss, as it affects your confidence in future decisions and intensifies the paralysis when choosing new things.

"We are always looking for the perfect book, the perfect game, the perfect food, the perfect movie. But as perfection has nothing to do with the content itself, but with our state at the moment, we find ourselves in an incessant search - hours, days, months to start doing something that, in the end, we never start."

Conclusion: Finding Clarity and Actually Learning Something

In summary, learning something new has never been easy, but the year that begins brings us more challenges than just accessing information. With that in mind, here are some points that can help you learn effectively:

Limit your choices: Avoid the temptation to accumulate courses or books. Having fewer options can help prevent overload and distraction. Don't buy more books or courses than you are willing to undertake.
Close all tabs: When you start watching a course or video, close all other tabs. Keep your focus on a single task.
Realistic goals: Set a real study plan with goals you can achieve (avoid creating ego-filled goals to make what you are doing seem bigger than it is).
Do good content curation: Choose simpler and shorter initial content to understand if that's really what you want to study.
Always have practice for theory: Ensure that for each thing you study, you can practice in some way. This reinforces and validates what you learned.
Revisit your study: Always revisit your study and see if it is aligned with what you aim for. This reflection can be weekly or monthly, but it is important that you understand which path you are heading (and also which you are not).

I wrote another article "Learning Tailwind CSS and a reflection on goals". I think it's an interesting combination because it shows exactly how I applied these principles to actually learn something new.

Remember, in our learning journey, every step, no matter how small, is progress. Nothing is wasted; in the worst case, you learned something new.