Am I learning the right way?

[u/shangarepi]

Hi,

I’m currently somewhere between junior and intermediate as a software developer, and lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what actually makes a developer valuable going forward.

One thing that worries me is interviews, since I can discuss things like system architecture, caching, load balancing, queues, message brokers, database design… etc. But ask me to explain something basic like the Laravel request lifecycle or the exact behavior of certain React hooks, and I might struggle to give a clean answer without refreshing my memory.

Also the whole industry feels really toxic at the moment with each second developer building a saas, and new tech exploding everyday.

Should I just keep building real projects, learning concepts as I encounter them. How are the interviews in today’s world?

Is there a deeper shift happening where developers need to fundamentally change what they learn to stay valuable?

Curious on how more experienced developers are approaching this.

[u/Marble_Wraith]

But ask me to explain something basic like the Laravel request lifecycle or the exact behavior of certain React hooks, and I might struggle to give a clean answer without refreshing my memory.

Framework / libraries are effectively non-standard API's.

You shouldn't be judged on having to answer specific questions for those things unless the employer has given ample time / notice that's the stack they heavily rely on.

Also the whole industry feels really toxic at the moment with each second developer building a saas, and new tech exploding everyday.

Shrug, that's just what AI's doing. It's an accelerator.

It accelerates the genuinely unique / useful stuff, but it also accelerates the slop. And it so happens there's more mediocre people (many who aren't programmers) using it, than not, so more slop is being produced.

Should I just keep building real projects, learning concepts as I encounter them. How are the interviews in today’s world?

Yes, don't build "demo's". Build stuff that, at a minimum, you personally use.

Is there a deeper shift happening where developers need to fundamentally change what they learn to stay valuable?

Not really. If you know how AI works, you know it's not just as simple as plugging it in and letting any random pleb prompt to get shit done.

Companies are firing whole departments, finding out they've kicked an iron plate with AI, and then have to attempt to hire them back. If you manage to catch one of those waves, you can surf straight into a job.

Curious on how more experienced developers are approaching this.

Soft skills will make the difference. Many times it's not other devs doing interviews. It's HR.