How do I identify the core things to learn when picking up a new tech stack?

Question

How can we identify what are the core in-demand "Legos", especially in the context of what we do commonly on our day to day job?

As software engineers, we are tackled with new things to build regularly, so I was wondering how I could focus on the components (i.e. "Legos") that are built more regularly and learn to build them with high-quality.

I don't have a concrete need for this right now, but I want to be more efficient at work and keep this in mind for when I do get into a new technology. As a web dev, a core in-demand Lego will be like responsive design or something like that right?

Alex Chiou · Accepted Answer

When working at a new stack at a company, here are some tactics:   Look at code reviews within that space and extract common themes. Code reviews are powerful as they also teach you the common mistakes made within this field   Read the core code components   Ask engineers in that space what to learn When just trying to pick up a new stack in isolation (e.g. I want to switch into Android), the most powerful thing you can do is look for patterns as a consumer. This is trickier for things more on the infra side (e.g. ML and Big Data), but if you're working on a front-end stack (web, Android, iOS), you use apps and websites everyday! Just keep an eye out for common UI components that the best, modern products use. Responsive design is very much a core lego for web. Other examples of core legos are making an API call, parsing a JSON model, and rendering a list of items.  Related resources:  How The Best Software Engineers Learn - The Lego Model Asking Effective Questions That Get Great Answers Quickly

How do I identify the core things to learn when picking up a new tech stack?

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