Learning, Skills and Staying Current

The technology moves and the worry that you are falling behind moves with it. These episodes cover generalist versus specialist, whether degrees and certifications are worth it, finding real time to learn inside a full-time job, and switching stacks without starting over.

26 episodes of Soft Skills Engineering, the weekly advice podcast where Dave Smith and Jamison Dance answer software engineers' questions. Every episode is free, and each page below has the listener's question in full.

Listen on Apple Podcasts Listen on Spotify

Every episode about learning and staying current

  1. Episode 522: I stayed too long at my first job and should I get a masters degree
  2. Episode 510: Old and behind and how do I hang on for the last few years until retirement?
  3. Episode 467: I can't get promoted if I do my job and should I get a degree to get a job in this economy
  4. Episode 453: Why did my company build an internal LinkedIn and how do I not get stagnant in my skills?
  5. Episode 363: Future impact of tech stacks and async communication
  6. Episode 329: Falling behind and can't get a management job
  7. Episode 288: Too excited about learning and furious boss when quitting
  8. Episode 266: Switching tech stacks and awkward zoom silence
  9. Episode 256: No degree ceiling and reverse whippersnappers
  10. Episode 249: Settling the Wild West and credit for self-study
  11. Episode 237: Salary vs tech stack and how to quit an ad agency
  12. Episode 210: Study time and caring less
  13. Episode 201: Too soon for a raise and management, masters, maybe?
  14. Episode 175: Famous devs at conferences and becoming obsolete
  15. Episode 161: Trapped as a QA engineer and trapped as a generalist
  16. Episode 160: Non-manager 1:1s and throwing away dev learning
  17. Episode 128: Finish The Degree In Poverty? and Hiring Insecurity
  18. Episode 88: How To Dress For Interviews and Learning To Interview
  19. Episode 67: Graduate School and Asking Good Questions
  20. Episode 59: Buying Training and Unrelated Experience
  21. Episode 51: Junior Scrum Master In Trouble And Jamison Has No Degree
  22. Episode 42: Bootcamp Job Hopping and Cultural Reliability
  23. Episode 34: Do Certifications Help and How Can I Avoid Avoidance?
  24. Episode 24: Should I be a generalist or specialist developer?
  25. Episode 16: Dealing with recruiters and learning new things without frustration
  26. Episode 15: Working with non-technical people and keeping up with the latest technology (with Brad Green)

Other topics

Browse all 527 episodes or ask Dave and Jamison your own question.