My experience differs from the rest of the comments you're getting. I've benefited most from cross-pollination with _other programmers_. Pairing, working on s

My experience differs from the rest of the comments you're getting. I've benefited most from cross-pollination with _other programmers_. Pairing, working on short projects together. You can't ask a book a question when you're stuck, and a book has nothing at stake if you don't understand it (nor do you, whereas if you write embarrassing code and you know the person who's going to review it, you have a reason to up your game.) I know way more (maybe 10x more) tools, more approaches, and more languages, than if I'd just stuck with self-taught approaches like books and tutorials. Those have some utility, but it's a very distant second. Plus, actual people help you get better jobs (or investors) even years after you part ways with them. In short, best practices require practices, not theory.