Stop watching more YouTube tutorials. Embrace docs
As a junior developer, you may prefer to watch some tutorials on YouTube to learn React or the latest trendy framework. That’s fine for beginners. At this point, you don’t need to fully understand the basics of software development yet; you just want to have fun writing code without complex explanations about how the Event Loop works or the differences between Angular and Vue.
However, if you want to grow into a senior engineer, it’s crucial to start focusing on the foundations and avoid simple YouTube tutorials. Once you write good code and start to excel in a particular framework or tech stack, you likely won’t need another 6-hour tutorial to learn a new technology. For example, if you’re proficient in React after spending the last three years coding in it and now want to learn Next.js, you don’t need a 6-hour tutorial. You need to understand the features of this React framework and how it works under the hood.
This kind of knowledge will allow you to excel in the technology and stand out from others. You’ll be able to select the best option for every scenario, which is one of the main differences between a junior and a senior engineer. You shouldn’t just know how to build a bridge, you should understand why the bridge doesn’t collapse.
So, it’s OK to watch YouTube tutorials, but get in the habit of reading docs. At first, it’s hard, but the effort is totally worth it.
Also, keep in mind that there are excellent docs, good docs, and terrible docs. For example, Stripe has some of the best documentation, so if you’re interested in integrating your application with a payment gateway, you should take a look. For bad docs that are hard to comprehend, I have one piece of advice: be patient. However, when I encounter unclear docs, I often reconsider using that technology. If a company hasn’t taken care of its docs, they might not take care of their products either. For me, that’s a big red flag.
Good docs:
