How Can Data Engineers Keep Up With Industry Trends While Working Full-Time?

The 20 Minute Rule

The 20 Minute Rule

Spend 20 minutes learning each work day.

First thing in the morning.

BEFORE checking Slack or e-mail.

Read and take notes or tinker in a scratch repo.

When I was a day trader this learning time was easy to carve out. Markets opened at 9:30am everyday. Anytime before then was for reviewing trades and reading market news.

I started reading Fundamentals of Software Architecture by Mark Richards and Neal Ford. Their answer to keeping up with the industry is to prioritize learning for 20 minutes per day.

Simple idea, but hard to stick to.

How To Make This a Habit

View it as vital to your job performance and long term career growth.

Because it is.

If you see the importance of this habit, you’ll make the time for it.

For Senior Engineers and above, understanding how the latest developments can impact your organization is part of your role. The 20 minute rule offers a way to balance your daily responsibilities with looking toward the future.

Twenty minutes per day might seem small, but compound that over a career and you’re an expert.

Do it first thing in the morning BEFORE the distractions of e-mail and Slack interrupt your day.

Try setting a calendar block or a Pomodoro timer and focus for your 20 minutes.

If your able to avoid notifications when you start your day, you can be sure to get this learning time in.

Know exactly what you will dive into.

I use Instapaper to maintain a reading list.

During the week, as folks share articles at work or I get newsletters, I add things to Instapaper. When I have a pocket of time between meetings I also check this list and start reading.

I use Obsidian as my second brain.

Here I track notes from things I read, but I also track side projects. If there’s new tech I want to try out, I have a project note which lets me know exactly where I left off.

The project note is a bread crumb trail making it easy for me to context switch.

It’s a Challenge

I have two young kids, a tee ball team to coach, my health to take care of, and a full time job. It’s difficult to balance everything and still find time to grow our skills.

Try the 20 minute rule to make learning new things part of your work routine.

It’s a long term investment in yourself and your career.