How Twitter can help you on your development journey
Harnessing this volatile social media platform for good as a developer
Photo by Ravi Sharma on Unsplash
Table of contents
Social media platforms without doubt play a unique and powerful role in modern society. And Twitter is without doubt one of the most controversial platforms, for good and bad reasons. As an all-in-one thought outlet, networking platform and news site, HOW you use twitter defines how good twitter is for you. There is a common belief that Twitter is where angry people go to argue and insult others. And while there are certainly a huge number of these "volcanic people", missing out on the advantages Twitter provides due to them is certainly a very bad idea.
For developers, though, Twitter is on a whole level of importance. Everyone knows developers should build their network, but it's not just networking we use Twitter for.
Resources
We all know that biggest caveat of learning programming: overabundance of resources. There are a million teachers and a billion ways to learn the same thing. And choosing one and sticking to it is difficult. Also, at the beginning, you are so inundated that you might even give up. Thankfully, developers are very open-minded and welcoming folks. Experienced developers on Twitter have no problem sharing their own stories, roadmaps and the resources they used.
And that's not even considering the threads. Threads are collections of tweets that are linked together (much like a linked-list). The amount of tricks and insights one can gain from mere tweets is unimaginable. Due to the word limit, the tweet authors have compacted the insight in as few and simple words as possible. Also, as it's a social media website, it's way more fun to read in comparison to man pages. Personally, my Twitter Bookmarks are filled with interesting tips, project ideas, and learning resources.
Curated Experiences
The developers on Twitter lie on a spectrum as far as their level of experience is concerned. From those who've worked in tech over 20 years to code newbies who are on the #100DaysOfCode challenge, everyone is harnessing the power of Twitter to connect with fellow learners, share tips and form friendships. Twitter is also easier to use in comparison to those other staples of developers: Slack and Discord, that are a lot more community based. Twitter allows you to follow topics and lists that include curated tweets from accounts known to tweet about that particular field. If you follow the web developers topic, you get tweets from the most popular web developers out there. Tweets from people like Danny Thompson, Parik and Marko Denic will appear in your timeline. Following a topic is a one step process that can give you lots of learning opportunities, so don't miss out!!
Motivation
As a programmer, there are times you feel like giving up. You've poured hours and hours into a project, but the bloody thing just doesn't work. Or maybe you didn't code for some weeks due to looming examinations, and now don't feel like going back. Its in those situations that Twitter comes in handy. If you follow the right people (and mute the wrong words), your timeline will be filled with inspiring stories, interesting ideas and push you to try again. And it's not all positive either: a real life is filled with ups and downs, and there are days you'll see your favorite account speak up on burnout, exhaustion, and fatigue. How they conquer their hurdles will inspire you to leap your own. Some of them are so excited about their learnings/projects, that their enthusiasm is infectious!
Whatever it is we are trying to achieve, it's not faking our way to success!
The best way to be a programmer is to get started and keep going. Not take a detour after Hello World, not make tic-tac-toe and say goodbye. Persist, and one day, you'll look back and smile!
What I've written about are just some reasons Twitter is gold. I haven't even discussed the amount of valuable tips gained from Twitter Spaces, nor have I discussed the communities feature that was recently introduced.
If you're new to Twitter, how about following me first up? :) Follow @VincentDsouza on Hashnode . Tell me if you liked my post and in what way I can improve my writing. Also, shoutout to Victoria Lo ma'am for giving me reasons to push past my fears and start with the blog in her awesome blog post. Cheers!!