It's still January, so it seems that I've made it just in time to put together a forward-looking post for the year. I just recently attended Code Mash 2025 in Sandusky, Ohio. This was my first development conference and I got to sit in a lot of sessions with some very thoughtful developers.
I love conferences like this. I enjoyed them when I was in school for music too. It's inspiring to go to a place where people share what they're working on, what they're passionate about and where they think the field is going.
My brain has been buzzing since I left the conference, so I thought it would be a good idea to create some intention with this feeling. What are the things that I want to learn and get better at over the coming year?
1. ASP.NET MVC (Model-View-Controller)
I'm currently working in this framework! It's a bit new to me, mostly the MVC pattern was too complex for most of the small projects that I would work on at home. I've got some decent familiarity with it right now, but I want to dig into the docs and build something of my own so that I really understand the .NET specifics, and the usage of the pattern!
2. Client-Side .NET (Razor, Blazor)
My exposure to Razor is fairly minimal and Blazor even less so. It seems that the new projects at my company are going the Blazor route. It will be handy to have this skill in my back-pocket. Right now, my client apps come out of my fingers in React, so I'm hoping that some of these skills can transfer over.
3. AI and Machine Learning
Yes, yes. The big buzzwords. I just recently posted an article that said that I don't think that AI is going to dry up programming jobs any time soon (or really at all). However, I do believe that it will change the game significantly.
I want to take the time to learn about AI models, and agents. I want to learn how LLMs actually work behind the scenes, and begin to create some machine learning models on my own. This will also include things like prompt engineering and learning the patterns that developers use to interact with popular APIs.
4. Software Consulting and Independent Work
I LOVE my job, and I have no plans to leave. But, I like to have my own things rolling on the side. The desire that I have to build and create isn't satisfied just in the code editor. I want to help people and provide value in a more direct way than I can in someone else's company.
On the financial side of things, I'd like to have less risk too. If this past year has taught me anything, it's that having only one source of income is probably one the most risky positions that you can be in, no matter who you are. As nice and comfortable as our jobs are, they can disappear in an instant as the world changes or as the people you work with change.
To be clear, I'm not really worried about this at my current job, but then I wasn't really worried about it when I lost my last job.
I want to dig into what software consultants actually do, and what other avenues software developers go down to start side-hustles and create value.
5. Design Patterns and Object Oriented Principles
I learned these... Well, really, I read about them once or twice. I want these to be ingrained. I have a tendency to be a pretty dogmatic person, so maybe I'll combat this by not learning ALL of them as thoroughly as possible. But, I think that having a good understanding of the patterns that are most commonly used and the problems that they most commonly solve can only make me better at what I do.
I've also noticed that I keep making SOLID and DRY mistakes when my code reviews come back. So, I'd like to be a bit more intentional in recognizing these things when they come around in my code.
6. Planning Center API
This one is just a personal interest. Planning Center is a suite of software that churches use to manage their contacts, calendars, websites, services and more. It's a robust and powerful application that offers an API.
I do a bit of volunteer work, primarily around configuring the Planning Center system to create value for my church family. While poking around, I found that Planning Center has an API for their products. I want to spend some time soaking in what this API is capable of and create some automations that will benefit my church, some things that aren't already built into the current suite (which will be kind of difficult).
7. Testing, Testing, Testing
Classic. At the bottom of the list again? Testing is the area that I think that most developers feel deficient in and feel like they don't spend enough time working on. I am no different. I am capable of writing unit tests, but when we start talking about larger automated testing suites, integrated testing, headless UI testing, I'm a little lost. I can see the value, but I'm not so sure how to implement these things in a way that's actually effective.
What are you going to learn?
If you're reading this, I'd love to know what you're planning on learning in 2025, or what you have to say about my list! If you're reading this on DEV.to, leave a comment! Or shoot me an email, I'd love to hear your thoughts! (Maybe just give me a heads up where you came from though!)
Software and programming will change a lot in 2025, but that's not a reason to be afraid. Software and programming change a lot every year, but the core principles remain the same. Keep expanding your skillset, programming-related and not, and you will find yourself well served!
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