Learning new skills and upskilling your talents is critical in boosting your developer career. Project-based learning (PBL) is one of the methods we can use to learn new skills, level up and improve our developer portfolios. Here, we’ll look at articles on how developers have utilised PBL to ‘learn by doing’.
Luno Co-founder Carel van Wyk on Levelling Up with Projects
Project-based learning should be a fun experience where you can build a non-work-related project that you find interesting or useful. Carel van Wyk gives an overview of the benefits of PBL and how to get started building something you enjoy.
How I plan and focus my Project-Based Learning
PBL can also be a great way to reach your career goals by giving you skills in areas that you would like to move into. In this article, software engineer Cedric Maenetja gives a detailed breakdown of how he planned his projects to break into the world of Android mobile development. He also gives a breakdown of how to set up your learning goals, objectives and skills that you wish to gain from project-based learning.
How I choose a source to enhance my Project-Based Learning
Before embarking on a project, it’s always important to do some research into the technologies and skills you are looking to enhance. In his second article on PBL, Cedric Maenetja outlines how he goes about choosing the best sources of information for his projects - including primary sources like documentation, secondary sources like Stack Overflow, and even mentorship resources to help guide your learning.
How I Make Time for Project-Based Learning (PBL)
Finding time for personal projects can always be a challenge. Full stack developer Adrian Muntean gives tips in this article on how he finds time for project-based learning - including making use of ‘unproductive’ time and combining learning with your work.
As you can see, structuring your personal projects to set them up for learning can really help you level up in your career. It’s the perfect way to learn that technology stack that you’ve always wanted. So what are you waiting for?
If you’re interested in the types of projects you could start your PBL journey with, here are some examples from the developer community:
- CouldBe Email: How I used AI to turn meeting agendas into concise email summaries
- How I Used Web Dev Architecture to Structure my Home Automation System
- How I Created my own AI Bot Game Using Lisp
- How I Used MongoDB for Home Automation Data Tracking
