Do not confuse technology watch with learning

In the tech industry, there's sometimes confusion between staying informed and learning, which fuels pointless debates when the two concepts are mixed up.

This confusion is often born during training, because when we learn to code, we're taught, and generally encouraged, to "stay informed".

In fact, even on this blog, we published an article about 5 tools for effective technology monitoring!

So some developers get into the habit of staying informed on a daily basis, thinking they're leveling up their skills...

Except that staying informed (almost) never leads to skill improvement, at least not on its own!

Why isn't staying informed enough?

Staying informed means keeping up with the news, new technologies, etc... But above all, it means "monitoring" everything we don't know yet!

Concepts, best practices, design patterns, the issues and constraints of a technology aren't necessarily new topics in the tech world, but they are new topics for us!

Of course, by constantly staying informed, you learn things, that's undeniable, but to truly improve your skills on a topic, you need to study it, test it, implement it.

Reading an article about Domain-Driven Development (DDD) won't make you master the subject... But before reading that article, you might not even have heard of this concept.

So you haven't leveled up your skills, but you've explored something new!

You'll now be able to discuss it and even take the time to study it later, during a learning phase, if you feel the need!

Since the tech world is constantly evolving, more technologies and concepts are created every day than you'll have time to study in the same timeframe.

So we're in a constant knowledge deficit!
Is that a problem? No.

It's physically impossible to be up to date on everything, all the time. And it's even pointless. That's why it's important to regularly probe our "ignorance" and know where our knowledge ends, so we can target our learning.

"I know that I know nothing," said Socrates.

To know your ignorance, you need to know what exists, thanks to staying informed.

To fill your ignorance, you need to learn, which takes more time and is a very different exercise!

Let's not mix the two up!

Conclusion

To sum up in a few words, good monitoring should simply help you direct your continuous learning, not replace it!