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I invest in my tools and learn a bit more than what I need to make them functional. This isn't always a tech deep dive- sometimes it's just being a "power user"

I invest in my tools and learn a bit more than what I need to make them functional. This isn't always a tech deep dive- sometimes it's just being a "power user" and knowing the shortcuts. I haven't met a recent grad in the workforce that uses git to its potential. They cargo cult workflows which is a good start but get in to trouble by not understanding just a bit more about how you can make temp branches / rags to keep from destroying commits in a rebase or how to prune duplicate commits from a sloppy rebase. For terminals - using tmux or screen and understanding how they work enough to pair up on a remote box. For any language knowing how to debug and how to profile. Understanding that print/println/log debugging is great and just keeping moving when figuring out why something isn't quite right. This isn't a hard answer to what you asked but it's what popped up in my mind.

majewsky 8y ago
> I invest in my tools and learn a bit more than what I need to make them functional. This isn't always a tech deep dive- sometimes it's just being a "power user" and knowing the shortcuts. If you (the asker) are using a Unix environment, I would recommend that you set up a weekly appointment, maybe every Friday, where you sit down and read a random manpage. Not for the sake of memorizing everything, but to learn what your tools can already do if you just remember to look up the right invocation when you need it.
- hyperpape 8y ago
  I like the idea, but I don't think a random man page is the best approach. The signal to noise ratio is quite low. Maybe look at something like Julia Evans' bite sized linux.
  - marmot777 8y ago
    Why does it have to be random at all? Why not start at the beginning of a Linux book and something like http://wiki.bash-hackers.org http://wiki.bash-hackers.org? Even acting systematically leaves room for astonishing synchronicities.
LocalMan 8y ago
Your description of git raises a 'code smell' with me. I've found git to be far too complex to rely on. No, I don't have a replacement for cooperative development, but the thing is a bug trap (it leads you into complexity, making errors, and so on).

majewsky 8y ago

> I invest in my tools and learn a bit more than what I need to make them functional. This isn't always a tech deep dive- sometimes it's just being a "power user" and knowing the shortcuts. If you (the asker) are using a Unix environment, I would recommend that you set up a weekly appointment, maybe every Friday, where you sit down and read a random manpage. Not for the sake of memorizing everything, but to learn what your tools can already do if you just remember to look up the right invocation when you need it.

hyperpape 8y ago
I like the idea, but I don't think a random man page is the best approach. The signal to noise ratio is quite low. Maybe look at something like Julia Evans' bite sized linux.
- marmot777 8y ago
  Why does it have to be random at all? Why not start at the beginning of a Linux book and something like http://wiki.bash-hackers.org http://wiki.bash-hackers.org? Even acting systematically leaves room for astonishing synchronicities.

LocalMan 8y ago

Your description of git raises a 'code smell' with me. I've found git to be far too complex to rely on. No, I don't have a replacement for cooperative development, but the thing is a bug trap (it leads you into complexity, making errors, and so on).