[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":3427},["Reactive",2],{"navigation":3,"aAII9Cz3yR":204,"tags-learning":397},[4,192,200],{"title":5,"_path":6,"children":7,"icon":191},"Blog","/posts",[8,11,14,17,20,23,26,29,32,35,38,41,44,47,50,53,56,59,62,65,68,71,74,77,80,83,86,89,92,95,98,101,104,107,110,113,116,119,122,125,128,131,134,137,140,143,146,149,152,155,158,161,164,167,170,173,176,179,182,185,188],{"title":9,"_path":10},"Testing your API with REST Client","/posts/testing-your-api-with-rest-client",{"title":12,"_path":13},"HTML templating in Xamarin","/posts/html-templating-in-xamarin",{"title":15,"_path":16},"Goodbye Azure Portal, Welcome Azure CLI","/posts/welcome-azure-cli",{"title":18,"_path":19},"Coming across Gitpod","/posts/gitpod",{"title":21,"_path":22},"Handle token retrieval while querying an API","/posts/delegating-handler",{"title":24,"_path":25},"Clean up your local git branches.","/posts/cleaning-git-branches",{"title":27,"_path":28},"Automate configuration of Teams Tab SSO with PowerShell.","/posts/teams-sso-powershell",{"title":30,"_path":31},"How to do a technology watch? - Part 1","/posts/technology-watch-part1",{"title":33,"_path":34},"How to do a technology watch? - Part 2","/posts/technology-watch-part2",{"title":36,"_path":37},"You almost no longer need Key Vault references for Azure Functions.","/posts/azure-functions-custom-configuration",{"title":39,"_path":40},"How to do a technology watch? - Part 3","/posts/technology-watch-part3",{"title":42,"_path":43},"Forget DevOps, the future is already here!","/posts/devops-future",{"title":45,"_path":46},"Week 9, 2021 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w09-2021-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":48,"_path":49},"Week 12, 2021 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w12-2021-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":51,"_path":52},"Week 14, 2021 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w14-2021-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":54,"_path":55},"Once upon a time in .NET","/posts/once-upon-a-time-in-dotnet",{"title":57,"_path":58},"Install your applications with winget","/posts/winget-import",{"title":60,"_path":61},"Customize your applications when installing them with winget","/posts/winget-override",{"title":63,"_path":64},"Week 22, 2021 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w22-2021-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":66,"_path":67},"How to connect to an Azure SQL Database from C# using Azure AD","/posts/sqlclient-active-directory-authent",{"title":69,"_path":70},"Producing packages for Windows Package Manager","/posts/wingetcreate",{"title":72,"_path":73},"4 tips about GitHub Actions environment variables and contexts","/posts/github-actions-var-and-context",{"title":75,"_path":76},"AzureWebJobsStorage, the secret you don't need in your Function App.","/posts/azure-functions-without-azurewebjobsstorage",{"title":78,"_path":79},"ASP.NET Core - Lost in configuration","/posts/lost-in-configuration",{"title":81,"_path":82},"Week 39, 2021 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w39-2021-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":84,"_path":85},"Week 41, 2021 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w41-2021-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":87,"_path":88},"Migrating and open-sourcing my blog","/posts/migrating-blog",{"title":90,"_path":91},"Week 45, 2021 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w45-2021-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":93,"_path":94},"Organize your GitHub stars with Astral","/posts/astral",{"title":96,"_path":97},"Pulumi with an Azure Blob Storage backend","/posts/pulumi-azure-backend",{"title":99,"_path":100},"IaC Hot Reload with Pulumi Watch","/posts/pulumi-watch",{"title":102,"_path":103},"Week 2, 2022 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w02-2022-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":105,"_path":106},"Week 3, 2022 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w03-2022-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":108,"_path":109},"Week 5, 2022 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w05-2022-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":111,"_path":112},"How to provision an Azure SQL Database with Active Directory authentication","/posts/sqldatabase-active-directory-authent",{"title":114,"_path":115},"Why will I choose Pulumi over Terraform for my next project?","/posts/pulumi-vs-terraform",{"title":117,"_path":118},"Week 19, 2022 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w19-2022-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":120,"_path":121},"Week 20, 2022 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w20-2022-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":123,"_path":124},"Keeping secrets secure when using API Clients","/posts/http-clients-secrets",{"title":126,"_path":127},"What made me want to be a developer?","/posts/be-a-developer",{"title":129,"_path":130},"What can we do when stuck with a programming problem?","/posts/get-unstuck",{"title":132,"_path":133},"How did I automate the setup of my developer Windows laptop?","/posts/automate-developer-machine",{"title":135,"_path":136},"Discussion about API clients","/posts/http-clients",{"title":138,"_path":139},"Week 46, 2022 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w46-2022-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":141,"_path":142},"When Pulumi met Nuke: a .NET love story","/posts/when-pulumi-met-nuke",{"title":144,"_path":145},"A year of learning and sharing - Dev Retro 2022","/posts/2022-retro",{"title":147,"_path":148},"Perform Dynamic Execution of an npm Package","/posts/pnpm-dlx",{"title":150,"_path":151},"Manage multiple Node.js versions","/posts/pnpm-env",{"title":153,"_path":154},"Introducing the Vue.js CI/CD series","/posts/vuecicd-introduction",{"title":156,"_path":157},"Execute commands using your project dependencies","/posts/pnpm-exec",{"title":159,"_path":160},"Vue.js CI/CD: Continuous Integration","/posts/vuecicd-ci",{"title":162,"_path":163},"Who is using pnpm?","/posts/pnpm-who-is-using",{"title":165,"_path":166},"Create an Azure-Ready GitHub Repository using Pulumi","/posts/azure-ready-github-repository",{"title":168,"_path":169},"Deploying to Azure from Azure DevOps without secrets","/posts/ado-workload-identity-federation",{"title":171,"_path":172},"Effortlessly Configure GitHub Repositories for Azure Deployment via OIDC","/posts/scripting-azure-ready-github-repository",{"title":174,"_path":175},"Playing with the .NET 8 Web API template","/posts/playing-with-dotnet8",{"title":177,"_path":178},"Another year of sharing and learning - Dev Retro 2023","/posts/2023-retro",{"title":180,"_path":181},"Week 4, 2024 - Tips I learned this week","/posts/w04-2024-tips-learned-this-week",{"title":183,"_path":184},"Using dependency injection with Azure .NET SDK","/posts/azure-sdk-di",{"title":186,"_path":187},"Having Fun With IT Event Calendars","/posts/it-event-calendars",{"title":189,"_path":190},"Call your Azure AD B2C protected API with authenticated HTTP requests from your JetBrains IDE","/posts/http-clients-oauth2","i-heroicons-newspaper",{"title":193,"_path":194,"children":195,"icon":199},"Goodies","/goodies",[196],{"title":197,"_path":198},"My Git Cheat Sheet","/goodies/gitcheatsheet","i-heroicons-gift-solid",{"title":201,"_path":202,"icon":203},"About","/about","i-heroicons-user-circle-solid",[205,207,209,211,214,217,220,223,226,229,231,234,237,240,242,244,247,250,253,255,258,261,264,267,270,273,276,279,282,285,287,289,292,294,297,300,303,305,308,310,313,316,319,322,325,327,329,332,335,338,341,344,347,350,353,356,359,361,363,366,369,372,375,377,380,383,385,388,391,394],[206,206],"tooling",[208,208],"vscode",[210,210],"rest",[212,213],"http","HTTP",[215,216],"razor","Razor",[218,219],"xamarin","Xamarin",[221,222],"templating","Templating",[224,225],"azure-cli","Azure CLI",[227,228],"azure","Azure",[230,230],"shell",[232,233],"github","GitHub",[235,236],"asp-net-core","ASP.NET Core",[238,239],"net",".NET",[241,241],"git",[243,243],"nushell",[245,246],"microsoft-teams","Microsoft Teams",[248,249],"powershell","PowerShell",[251,252],"azure-active-directory","Azure Active Directory",[254,254],"learning",[256,257],"azure-functions","Azure Functions",[259,260],"azure-key-vault","Azure Key Vault",[262,263],"configuration","Configuration",[265,266],"devops","DevOps",[268,269],"it","IT",[271,272],"tips-learned-this-week","tips learned this week",[274,275],"windows-terminal","Windows Terminal",[277,278],"azure-pipelines","Azure Pipelines",[280,281],"application-insights","Application Insights",[283,284],"azure-iot","Azure IoT",[286,286],"records",[288,288],"refit",[290,291],"development-box-setup","development box setup",[293,293],"winget",[295,296],"package-manager","package manager",[298,299],"azure-sql-database","Azure SQL Database",[301,302],"azure-sdk","Azure SDK",[304,304],"wingetcreate",[306,307],"github-actions","GitHub Actions",[309,309],"jq",[311,312],"pulumi","Pulumi",[314,315],"iac","IaC",[317,318],"azure-storage","Azure Storage",[320,321],"azure-signalr","Azure SignalR",[323,324],"visio","Visio",[326,326],"csharp",[328,328],"jest",[330,331],"statiq","Statiq",[333,334],"open-source","open source",[336,337],"visual-studio","Visual Studio",[339,340],"vue-js","Vue.js",[342,343],"azure-devops","Azure DevOps",[345,346],"vite","Vite",[348,349],"code-analysis","Code analysis",[351,352],"diagram","Diagram",[354,355],"terraform","Terraform",[357,358],"typescript","TypeScript",[360,360],"thoughts",[362,362],"pnpm",[364,365],"nuke","Nuke",[367,368],"pipelines","Pipelines",[370,371],"cicd","CI/CD",[373,374],"openid-connect","OpenID Connect",[376,376],"security",[378,379],"github-cli","GitHub CLI",[381,382],"microsoft-entra-id","Microsoft Entra ID",[384,384],"advent",[386,387],"finops","FinOps",[389,390],"anglesharp","AngleSharp",[392,393],"oauth2","OAuth2",[395,396],"azure-ad-b2c","Azure AD B2C",[398,984,1433,2023,2699],{"_path":178,"_dir":399,"_draft":400,"_partial":400,"_locale":401,"title":177,"description":402,"lead":403,"date":404,"image":405,"badge":407,"tags":409,"ImageAttribution":410,"body":411,"_type":979,"_id":980,"_source":981,"_file":982,"_extension":983},"posts",false,"","Last year, I wrote my first annual retrospective. It was an interesting exercise that I intend to do every year. So for 2023, here is my year in review.","Challenges and achievements of 2023","2024-01-02T00:00:00.000Z",{"src":406},"/images/review_1.jpg",{"label":408},"Essay",[360,254],"Picture of \u003Ca href=\"https://unsplash.com/fr/@markuswinkler?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText\">Markus Winkler\u003C/a> on \u003Ca href=\"https://unsplash.com/fr/photos/-fRAIQHKcc0?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText\">Unsplash\u003C/a>",{"type":412,"children":413,"toc":970},"root",[414,433,440,453,488,493,526,531,537,542,570,583,595,618,623,640,645,650,656,661,666,675,680,693,724,747,756,770,776,781,804,809,814,824,847,852,931,937,942,947,965],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":417,"children":418},"element","p",{},[419,422,431],{"type":420,"value":421},"text","Last year, I wrote my ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":424,"children":428},"a",{"href":425,"rel":426},"https://www.techwatching.dev/posts/2022-retro",[427],"nofollow",[429],{"type":420,"value":430},"first annual retrospective",{"type":420,"value":432},". It was an interesting exercise that I intend to do every year. So for 2023, here is my year in review.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":435,"children":437},"h2",{"id":436},"plans-for-2023-versus-reality",[438],{"type":420,"value":439},"Plans for 2023 versus reality",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":441,"children":442},{},[443,445,451],{"type":420,"value":444},"My plans for 2023 that I shared in ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":446,"children":448},{"href":425,"rel":447},[427],[449],{"type":420,"value":450},"my 2022 retro",{"type":420,"value":452}," were to:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":455,"children":456},"ul",{},[457,463,468,473,478,483],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":459,"children":460},"li",{},[461],{"type":420,"value":462},"keep learning about Vue.js and Nuxt.js",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":464,"children":465},{},[466],{"type":420,"value":467},"explore Azure Container Apps and Dapr",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":469,"children":470},{},[471],{"type":420,"value":472},"keep writing articles on my blog about topics I am interested in",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":474,"children":475},{},[476],{"type":420,"value":477},"keep sharing links and tips on social networks",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":479,"children":480},{},[481],{"type":420,"value":482},"improve my use of PKM tools like Obsidian",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":484,"children":485},{},[486],{"type":420,"value":487},"give at least 1 talk at a developer conference",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":489,"children":490},{},[491],{"type":420,"value":492},"I must admit that I didn't fully achieve my goals:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":494,"children":495},{},[496,501,506,511,516,521],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":497,"children":498},{},[499],{"type":420,"value":500},"I continued learning Vue.js and Nuxt.js but not as extensively as I would have hoped",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":502,"children":503},{},[504],{"type":420,"value":505},"I didn't dive deeply into Azure Container Apps and Dapr although I did experiment with them a bit",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":507,"children":508},{},[509],{"type":420,"value":510},"I wrote articles on my blog but fewer than in the previous years",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":512,"children":513},{},[514],{"type":420,"value":515},"I shared links and tips on social networks but not consistently",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":517,"children":518},{},[519],{"type":420,"value":520},"I took my notes using Obsidian, but I haven't utilized it as a true PKM tool",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":522,"children":523},{},[524],{"type":420,"value":525},"I did give several talks at various developer conferences (more on that later)",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":527,"children":528},{},[529],{"type":420,"value":530},"It's not a big deal that I didn't accomplish everything. My primary goal for 2023 was for it to be a year of learning and sharing, just like in 2022. And I succeeded in doing that. 2023 was another year of learning and sharing, and it also provided numerous speaking opportunities. This is one of the reasons why I didn't have the time to do everything I planned.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":532,"children":534},{"id":533},"public-speaking",[535],{"type":420,"value":536},"Public speaking",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":538,"children":539},{},[540],{"type":420,"value":541},"In 2022, I gave my first talk at a developer conference (online). In 2023, I had the opportunity to speaker at five French developer conferences:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":543,"children":544},{},[545,550,555,560,565],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":546,"children":547},{},[548],{"type":420,"value":549},"Global Azure France in Paris - May 2023",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":551,"children":552},{},[553],{"type":420,"value":554},"Cloud Est in Lyon - June 2023",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":556,"children":557},{},[558],{"type":420,"value":559},"Breizh Camp in Rennes - June 2023",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":561,"children":562},{},[563],{"type":420,"value":564},"BDX I/O in Bordeaux - November 2023",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":566,"children":567},{},[568],{"type":420,"value":569},".NET Conf 2023 with MTG (online) - December 2023",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":571,"children":572},{},[573,575,581],{"type":420,"value":574},"The first three talks focused on Infrastructure as Code in general, and more specifically on ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":576,"children":579},{"href":577,"rel":578},"https://www.pulumi.com/",[427],[580],{"type":420,"value":312},{"type":420,"value":582},". I particularly enjoyed speaking at Breizh Camp, as many people attended my talk 🥰 and the organization was excellent.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":584,"children":585},{},[586],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":588,"children":594},"img",{"alt":589,"className":590,"src":593},"Screenshot of talk record at Breizh Camp",[591,592],"rounded-lg","mx-auto","/posts/images/2022_retro_talk.webp",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":596,"children":597},{},[598,600,607,609,616],{"type":420,"value":599},"The fourth talk showcased ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":601,"children":604},{"href":602,"rel":603},"https://sli.dev/",[427],[605],{"type":420,"value":606},"slidev",{"type":420,"value":608},", a tool for developers by ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":610,"children":613},{"href":611,"rel":612},"https://antfu.me/",[427],[614],{"type":420,"value":615},"Anthony Fu",{"type":420,"value":617}," that allows creating slides in markdown (and using web technologies). It was a 15-minute talk titled \"Oops, I Forgot to Make My Slides,\" during which a friend helped me create my slides about Vue 3 on stage. It was an incredibly fun talk to prepare and deliver. I cannot thank my co-speaker Xavier Noya enough for agreeing to do this talk with me. Additionally, I was delighted to be a speaker at this fantastic conference that takes place in my hometown.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":619,"children":620},{},[621],{"type":420,"value":622},"The last talk was online (for a French event related to the .NET Conf 2023). It concentrated on the new features of C# 12 and .NET 8, and demonstrated how to implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using .NET.",{"type":415,"tag":624,"props":625,"children":627},"callout",{"icon":626},"i-heroicons-film",[628],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":629,"children":630},{},[631,633],{"type":420,"value":632},"The talks I gave are all in French, but if you are interested some of them have been ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":634,"children":637},{"href":635,"rel":636},"https://drp.li/f7I9N",[427],[638],{"type":420,"value":639},"recorded",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":641,"children":642},{},[643],{"type":420,"value":644},"I am incredibly proud of the numerous speaking opportunities I've had. While it may not seem impressive to experienced speakers, it means a lot to me. I am truly grateful for the chance to speak at these events and to have attended some fantastic talks as well.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":646,"children":647},{},[648],{"type":420,"value":649},"Developer conferences' Call for Papers are highly selective, and they always receive many excellent proposals. Thus, I have no idea if I will be able to speak at multiple conferences in 2024, but I will certainly do my best.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":651,"children":653},{"id":652},"blogging",[654],{"type":420,"value":655},"Blogging",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":657,"children":658},{},[659],{"type":420,"value":660},"In 2023, I \"only\" wrote 11 articles on my blog, which is fewer than the 15 articles I wrote in 2022 and significantly less than the 19 articles in 2021.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":662,"children":663},{},[664],{"type":420,"value":665},"For some of my articles, I created a GitHub repository with the code samples used in the article. That's something I intend to do more.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":667,"children":668},{},[669],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":670,"children":674},{"alt":671,"className":672,"src":673},"Example of GitHub repository sample code for article.",[591,592],"/posts/images/2022_retro_github.webp",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":676,"children":677},{},[678],{"type":420,"value":679},"My blog's traffic decreased a little (not enough articles this year I guess):",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":681,"children":682},{},[683,688],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":684,"children":685},{},[686],{"type":420,"value":687},"27K users vs 28K",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":689,"children":690},{},[691],{"type":420,"value":692},"27K pages seen vs 37K",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":694,"children":695},{},[696,698,705,707,714,716,722],{"type":420,"value":697},"I kept cross-posting all my articles on ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":699,"children":702},{"href":700,"rel":701},"https://techwatching.hashnode.dev/",[427],[703],{"type":420,"value":704},"Hashnode",{"type":420,"value":706}," and ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":708,"children":711},{"href":709,"rel":710},"https://dzone.com/users/4682620/techwatching.html",[427],[712],{"type":420,"value":713},"dev.to",{"type":420,"value":715},", and published two of them on ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":717,"children":719},{"href":709,"rel":718},[427],[720],{"type":420,"value":721},"DZone",{"type":420,"value":723},".",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":725,"children":726},{},[727,729,736,738,745],{"type":420,"value":728},"Together with a friend, we initiated a ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":730,"children":733},{"href":731,"rel":732},"https://bordeauxcoders.com/series/pnpm-101",[427],[734],{"type":420,"value":735},"blog post series about pnpm",{"type":420,"value":737}," on a new team blog called \"",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":739,"children":742},{"href":740,"rel":741},"https://bordeauxcoders.com/",[427],[743],{"type":420,"value":744},"Bordeaux Coders",{"type":420,"value":746},"\". It was enjoyable, but our motivation waned after the summer. We need to regain our motivation, start writing again, and perhaps find others interested in collaborating on this blog.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":748,"children":749},{},[750],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":751,"children":755},{"alt":752,"className":753,"src":754},"Screenshot of th Bordeaux Coders' blog",[591,592],"/posts/images/2022_retro_blog.webp",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":757,"children":758},{},[759,761,768],{"type":420,"value":760},"I have also co-authored an ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":762,"children":765},{"href":763,"rel":764},"https://www.avanade.com/fr-fr/blogs/le-blog/life-at-avanade/notre-expertise-au-service-des-nouvelles-generations",[427],[766],{"type":420,"value":767},"article on my company's blog",{"type":420,"value":769}," about something I have been doing for 5 years now: overseeing student projects at my former engineering school.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":771,"children":773},{"id":772},"school-relationships-and-teaching",[774],{"type":420,"value":775},"School Relationships and Teaching",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":777,"children":778},{},[779],{"type":420,"value":780},"As I mentioned, this year I once again supervised a group of students on a small software development project over a few months. This experience provided the opportunity to:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":782,"children":783},{},[784,789,794,799],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":785,"children":786},{},[787],{"type":420,"value":788},"Explore new tools and technologies",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":790,"children":791},{},[792],{"type":420,"value":793},"Share knowledge with students and learn from them as well",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":795,"children":796},{},[797],{"type":420,"value":798},"Grow (by wearing different hats and utilizing educational management skills)",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":800,"children":801},{},[802],{"type":420,"value":803},"Promote my company's expertise and attract future talent",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":805,"children":806},{},[807],{"type":420,"value":808},"For the first time, in 2023, I taught a DevOps course at the same engineering school. It was an optional module on DevOps practices for 2nd-year students.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":810,"children":811},{},[812],{"type":420,"value":813},"Building relationships with schools takes time and isn't always easy, but I enjoy doing it (and I'm not alone, as I have colleagues who help me). Unfortunately, I am uncertain whether my company will continue supporting me in this area next year, so I don't know what I will be able to do in 2024.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":815,"children":817},{"id":816},"whats-next",[818],{"type":415,"tag":819,"props":820,"children":821},"strong",{},[822],{"type":420,"value":823},"What's next?",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":825,"children":826},{},[827,829,836,838,845],{"type":420,"value":828},"Together with two friends, we have started a tech community called \"",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":830,"children":833},{"href":831,"rel":832},"https://www.meetup.com/mtg-bordeaux/",[427],[834],{"type":420,"value":835},"MTG:Bordeaux",{"type":420,"value":837},",\" which will host meetups in Bordeaux to discuss Microsoft technologies (among others) several times a year. It is affiliated with ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":839,"children":842},{"href":840,"rel":841},"https://www.mtg-france.org/",[427],[843],{"type":420,"value":844},"MTG:France",{"type":420,"value":846},", which already encompasses numerous local communities in various French cities. The inaugural meetup is scheduled for February 1, 2024, and I hope it will be the first of many.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":848,"children":849},{},[850],{"type":420,"value":851},"Instead of setting vague plans for 2024 that I might not fully achieve, I prefer creating a list of small, tangible goals for the year. I know I won't be able to accomplish all of them, but it will provide me with achievable objectives to work on throughout the year:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":853,"children":854},{},[855,860,865,870,875,880,899,904,909,921,926],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":856,"children":857},{},[858],{"type":420,"value":859},"Organize 3 meetups for MTG:Bordeaux",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":861,"children":862},{},[863],{"type":420,"value":864},"Obtain the official Vue.js certification",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":866,"children":867},{},[868],{"type":420,"value":869},"Create a small speaker website in Nuxt, listing my previous talks",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":871,"children":872},{},[873],{"type":420,"value":874},"Build a small application using Dapr and running in Azure Container Apps",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":876,"children":877},{},[878],{"type":420,"value":879},"Write a blog post about Obsidian",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":881,"children":882},{},[883,885,892,894],{"type":420,"value":884},"Write 2 articles for the ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":886,"children":889},{"href":887,"rel":888},"https://bordeauxcoders.com/series/vuejs-cicd",[427],[890],{"type":420,"value":891},"Vue CI/CD series",{"type":420,"value":893}," on ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":895,"children":897},{"href":740,"rel":896},[427],[898],{"type":420,"value":744},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":900,"children":901},{},[902],{"type":420,"value":903},"Present at least 2 different talks at developer conferences",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":905,"children":906},{},[907],{"type":420,"value":908},"Reach 1K followers on LinkedIn",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":910,"children":911},{},[912,914],{"type":420,"value":913},"Add missing sections to the ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":915,"children":918},{"href":916,"rel":917},"https://github.com/TechWatching/pulumi-azure-workshop",[427],[919],{"type":420,"value":920},"Pulumi Azure Workshop",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":922,"children":923},{},[924],{"type":420,"value":925},"Develop a 1-day Pulumi training course",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":927,"children":928},{},[929],{"type":420,"value":930},"Create a YouTube video about a developer tool or technology",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":932,"children":934},{"id":933},"to-conclude",[935],{"type":420,"value":936},"To conclude",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":938,"children":939},{},[940],{"type":420,"value":941},"Despite not fully achieving my goals, 2023 was an interesting year, especially regarding public speaking. Looking ahead to 2024, I have outlined a series of concrete goals that emphasize continuous learning and community involvement.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":943,"children":944},{},[945],{"type":420,"value":946},"As I close the 2023 chapter, I want to thank 3 people:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":948,"children":949},{},[950,955,960],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":951,"children":952},{},[953],{"type":420,"value":954},"Christian Bonnaud - you played a role in many aspects I mentioned in this article (school relationships, blogging, tech community, ...), and it's always a pleasure to collaborate with you.",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":956,"children":957},{},[958],{"type":420,"value":959},"Xavier Noya - it was nice to give a talk alongside you this year at BDX I/O",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":961,"children":962},{},[963],{"type":420,"value":964},"My life partner - I wouldn't be able to write these articles, prepare these talks, or accomplish everything I do without your support and understanding",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":966,"children":967},{},[968],{"type":420,"value":969},"Enjoy 2024, and keep learning.",{"title":401,"searchDepth":971,"depth":971,"links":972},2,[973,974,975,976,977,978],{"id":436,"depth":971,"text":439},{"id":533,"depth":971,"text":536},{"id":652,"depth":971,"text":655},{"id":772,"depth":971,"text":775},{"id":816,"depth":971,"text":823},{"id":933,"depth":971,"text":936},"markdown","content:1.posts:57.2023-retro.md","content","1.posts/57.2023-retro.md","md",{"_path":145,"_dir":399,"_draft":400,"_partial":400,"_locale":401,"title":144,"description":985,"lead":986,"date":987,"image":988,"badge":989,"tags":990,"ImageAttribution":410,"body":991,"_type":979,"_id":1431,"_source":981,"_file":1432,"_extension":983},"I usually do not take the time to reflect on my developer journey and look back over the past year. Yet, it's a shame because I miss the opportunity to:","Challenges and achievements of 2022","2023-01-03T00:00:00.000Z",{"src":406},{"label":408},[360,254],{"type":412,"children":992,"toc":1421},[993,997,1020,1025,1031,1036,1041,1046,1051,1056,1061,1067,1072,1079,1100,1105,1114,1119,1133,1138,1143,1148,1161,1166,1190,1215,1225,1230,1235,1244,1258,1286,1300,1304,1309,1314,1328,1337,1342,1347,1370,1374,1379,1407],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":994,"children":995},{},[996],{"type":420,"value":985},{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":998,"children":999},{},[1000,1005,1010,1015],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1001,"children":1002},{},[1003],{"type":420,"value":1004},"remind me of the challenges I faced",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1006,"children":1007},{},[1008],{"type":420,"value":1009},"remember what I have learned",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1011,"children":1012},{},[1013],{"type":420,"value":1014},"see what I have accomplished",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1016,"children":1017},{},[1018],{"type":420,"value":1019},"think about what I need to do next year to keep moving forward.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1021,"children":1022},{},[1023],{"type":420,"value":1024},"So let's start this 2022 retrospective.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":1026,"children":1028},{"id":1027},"coming-back-to-front-end-development",[1029],{"type":420,"value":1030},"Coming \"back\" to front-end development",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1032,"children":1033},{},[1034],{"type":420,"value":1035},"During my career, I have mostly done back-end development, especially in recent years when I have been working on cloud projects. I was not totally unfamiliar with front-end development, but I preferred back-end development: thinking about cloud-native architectures speaks to me more than trying to center a div (don't be offended, I'm just kidding).",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1037,"children":1038},{},[1039],{"type":420,"value":1040},"However, in October 2021 I joined a team working on a Vue.js web application (with an ASP.NET Core back-end) and have been working on it since. So I had to quickly learn Vue.js and upgrade my front-end skills (which were quite rusty) in 2022.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1042,"children":1043},{},[1044],{"type":420,"value":1045},"As someone used to C# language, and .NET libraries/tooling it was quite challenging to re-learn everything on the front-end. Hopefully, whether it's front-end or back-end, it is still a matter of software development therefore there are many similarities and some knowledge I already had. Yet, I learned a lot from my colleagues who were less experienced but had better front-end skills than me. It's a good reminder that wherever you are in your career, you always have things to learn from others, seniors as well as juniors.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1047,"children":1048},{},[1049],{"type":420,"value":1050},"And you know what? I loved learning Vue.js and I am now a big fan of this framework. I was quite amazed to see it's community driven and that despite its huge popularity there is no big company behind it (like Facebook for React or Google for Angular), but many people and companies sponsoring the framework contributors. I love the ecosystem around Vue.js and I am happy that there is such a great community (lots of contributors live in France by the way).",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1052,"children":1053},{},[1054],{"type":420,"value":1055},"Even if I am far from being a Vue.js expert, I am proud to have brought some improvement ideas to the project I am working on (migrate to the composition API, migrate to Vite, add useful libraries like VueUse, ...). I am still not a CSS guru (and I guess I will never be) and I still prefer back-end development over front-end development. However, it's great to have a good understanding of both and be able to do both.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1057,"children":1058},{},[1059],{"type":420,"value":1060},"In my personal time, I took a look at the Nuxt framework (which is a meta-framework built on top of Vue.js) and the developer experience seems awesome. It's a framework I want to explore in 2023.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":1062,"children":1064},{"id":1063},"a-step-into-the-world-of-content-creation",[1065],{"type":420,"value":1066},"A step into the world of content creation",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1068,"children":1069},{},[1070],{"type":420,"value":1071},"As a developer, it's nice to learn new things but it's even better to share them, not only with colleagues but also with other developers that could benefit from them. That is why I wanted to share with a broader audience what I had discovered at work or during my technology watch.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1074,"children":1076},"h3",{"id":1075},"social-media",[1077],{"type":420,"value":1078},"Social media",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1080,"children":1081},{},[1082,1084,1091,1092,1099],{"type":420,"value":1083},"I already used blog articles to share my learnings but it takes me a lot of time to write an article and it's often on a specific topic. Sometimes I just want to share one little tip I learned or one article I found worth reading. So in 2022, I started sharing links, tips, and other things on social networks. I did that mostly on LinkedIn and Twitter, yet I recently spent some time on other platforms like ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1085,"children":1088},{"href":1086,"rel":1087},"https://mas.to/@techwatching",[427],[1089],{"type":420,"value":1090},"Mastodon",{"type":420,"value":706},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1093,"children":1096},{"href":1094,"rel":1095},"https://www.showwcase.com/techwatching",[427],[1097],{"type":420,"value":1098},"Showwcase",{"type":420,"value":723},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1101,"children":1102},{},[1103],{"type":420,"value":1104},"Here are what my posts look like:",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1106,"children":1107},{},[1108],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1109,"children":1113},{"alt":1110,"className":1111,"src":1112},"Posts on Twitter about tips.",[591,592],"/posts/images/2022_retro_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1115,"children":1116},{},[1117],{"type":420,"value":1118},"To be honest it did not bring me a lot of followers on Twitter or LinkedIn. Especially when you see that some people succeed in building in 6 months a bigger audience that I would ever have 😃. Is it bad? Not really, I would be glad if I could have more followers so that it could bring more readers to my blog but it's not very important. However, I made some nice connections and I am happy to share my learning journey with the few people that are interested.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1120,"children":1121},{},[1122,1124,1131],{"type":420,"value":1123},"In addition to that, I learned a lot about content creation (for example how to schedule and publish the same content on multiple social media with tools like ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1125,"children":1128},{"href":1126,"rel":1127},"https://www.feedhive.com/",[427],[1129],{"type":420,"value":1130},"FeedHive",{"type":420,"value":1132},"). Will it be useful in my current role? I don't think so. Will it help me in a future role or job? I don't know, it might be. Anyway, it's always fun to learn new things.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1134,"children":1135},{},[1136],{"type":420,"value":1137},"I should probably tweet/toot/write more frequently in 2023, but it takes time so we will see.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1139,"children":1141},{"id":1140},"blog",[1142],{"type":420,"value":5},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1144,"children":1145},{},[1146],{"type":420,"value":1147},"Writing on social media did not prevent me from writing on my blog. I wrote 15 articles in 2022, it's less than in 2021 (19 articles) but it's fine: I am happy with the articles I wrote. I am also happy to see that my blog's traffic grew:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":1149,"children":1150},{},[1151,1156],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1152,"children":1153},{},[1154],{"type":420,"value":1155},"28K users vs 12K",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1157,"children":1158},{},[1159],{"type":420,"value":1160},"37K pages seen vs 18K",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1162,"children":1163},{},[1164],{"type":420,"value":1165},"Here are the most read articles on my blog in 2022 (without taking into account other websites on which I cross-post them):",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":1167,"children":1168},{},[1169,1174,1178,1182,1186],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1170,"children":1171},{},[1172],{"type":420,"value":1173},"AzureWebJobsStorage, the secret you don't need in your Function App",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1175,"children":1176},{},[1177],{"type":420,"value":66},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1179,"children":1180},{},[1181],{"type":420,"value":114},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1183,"children":1184},{},[1185],{"type":420,"value":72},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1187,"children":1188},{},[1189],{"type":420,"value":21},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1191,"children":1192},{},[1193,1195,1200,1202,1207,1208,1214],{"type":420,"value":1194},"In 2022, I started submitting some of my articles on ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1196,"children":1198},{"href":709,"rel":1197},[427],[1199],{"type":420,"value":721},{"type":420,"value":1201}," and continued cross-posting all my articles on ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1203,"children":1205},{"href":700,"rel":1204},[427],[1206],{"type":420,"value":704},{"type":420,"value":706},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1209,"children":1212},{"href":1210,"rel":1211},"https://dev.to/techwatching",[427],[1213],{"type":420,"value":713},{"type":420,"value":723},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1216,"children":1217},{},[1218],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1219,"children":1224},{"alt":1220,"className":1221,"src":1222,"width":1223},"List of articles published on DZone by Alexandre Nédélec.",[591,592],"/posts/images/2022_retro_2.png",1000,[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1226,"children":1227},{},[1228],{"type":420,"value":1229},"Views are great, nevertheless, what pleased me the most was seeing a few nice comments on my articles.  When you know your articles helped someone or taught something to someone, it's the best achievement.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1231,"children":1232},{},[1233],{"type":420,"value":1234},"The topics I talked the most about in my articles this year were .NET, Azure, tooling, and Pulumi. I am a big fan of Pulumi, I found the technology great (even more after having used Terraform) so writing about it was nice. Thanks to these articles I have been invited to join the Puluminaries program (which recognizes members of the Pulumi community). It's amazing to see that blogging can lead to nice opportunities like that.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1236,"children":1237},{},[1238],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1239,"children":1243},{"alt":1240,"className":1241,"src":1242},"Puluminaries page on the Pulumi website.",[591,592],"/posts/images/2022_retro_3.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1245,"children":1246},{},[1247,1249,1256],{"type":420,"value":1248},"Blogging can also be rewarding when you participate in writeathons like the ones Hashnode organizes regularly. I am particularly  glad to have participated in the ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1250,"children":1253},{"href":1251,"rel":1252},"https://townhall.hashnode.com/4articles4weeks-writeathon-the-winners",[427],[1254],{"type":420,"value":1255},"\"4 articles 4 weeks\" writeathon",{"type":420,"value":1257}," and to have been part of the 5 top winners. It was the opportunity to:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":1259,"children":1260},{},[1261,1266,1271,1276,1281],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1262,"children":1263},{},[1264],{"type":420,"value":1265},"write about non-technical topics",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1267,"children":1268},{},[1269],{"type":420,"value":1270},"gain new followers",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1272,"children":1273},{},[1274],{"type":420,"value":1275},"have a post featured on Hashnode for the 1st time",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1277,"children":1278},{},[1279],{"type":420,"value":1280},"challenge me and publish 4 articles in 4 weeks",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1282,"children":1283},{},[1284],{"type":420,"value":1285},"discover other blogs",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1287,"children":1288},{},[1289,1291,1298],{"type":420,"value":1290},"In 2023, I plan to keep writing articles on my blog. I have a lot of ideas for articles, yet as a full-time developer and a dad of a 2 years old girl, it is often complicated to find time to write them. The problem is that creating an article (even on a topic I know) always involves a bit of search, and some effort to create the code samples. Furthermore, I am slow at writing. I hope to get better and faster at it. I think improving my use of PKM tools like ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1292,"children":1295},{"href":1293,"rel":1294},"https://obsidian.md/",[427],[1296],{"type":420,"value":1297},"Obsidian",{"type":420,"value":1299}," could help me with that.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1301,"children":1302},{"id":533},[1303],{"type":420,"value":536},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1305,"children":1306},{},[1307],{"type":420,"value":1308},"Another way of sharing what you learn is public speaking.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1310,"children":1311},{},[1312],{"type":420,"value":1313},"In the past, I gave a few internal talks in my company (about C#, CI/CD, and IaC) and even gave a talk with a colleague about Azure IoT at a small conference organized by my company. However, participating in events organized by your company and mostly internal is not the same as speaking at a developer conference or another public event. That's why I am pleased to have succeeded in 2022 to give my first talk at a developer conference.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1315,"children":1316},{},[1317,1319,1326],{"type":420,"value":1318},"I was a speaker at Cloud Ouest, which took place online in June 2022. I did a talk called \"Infrastructure as Code or Infrastructure as Software\". You can find the replay on ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1320,"children":1323},{"href":1321,"rel":1322},"https://youtu.be/V_Fis-hxQk4",[427],[1324],{"type":420,"value":1325},"YouTube",{"type":420,"value":1327}," (just so you know it's in French 😉).",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1329,"children":1330},{},[1331],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1332,"children":1336},{"alt":1333,"className":1334,"src":1335},"Cover of the Cloud Ouest talk about Infrastructure as Code. ",[591,592],"/posts/images/2022_retro_4.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1338,"children":1339},{},[1340],{"type":420,"value":1341},"I wish I could have given the same talk at other developer conferences (and especially in-person ones). Unfortunately, my proposals at different Call For Papers were not accepted. To be honest I found it challenging to become a speaker at a developer conference. First, you have to find a topic and prepare your talk without knowing if will ever be selected. Then you have to submit it to different CFPs hoping it will catch the attention of the selection committee which already receives lots of proposals, including some from well-known speakers. All that requires a bit of work and maybe for nothing.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1343,"children":1344},{},[1345],{"type":420,"value":1346},"Nevertheless, speaking at a developer conference is still a goal for 2023. Public speaking is something I want to do, something I want to be better at it, and the opportunity to meet nice people at events and chat with fellow developers. So I will keep submitting proposals to CFPs and see what will happen. I have a few topics in mind around .NET and Azure (which are my 2 fields of predilection) thus I should create new talk proposals. What bothers me a little is that there seem to be few conferences in France dedicated to .NET or Azure in France, but maybe I am not looking properly.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1348,"children":1349},{},[1350,1352,1359,1361,1368],{"type":420,"value":1351},"I almost forgot to mention than in 2022 I participated in a live debate \"Pulumi vs Terraform\" organized by Microsoft Tech Group France. It was recorded so you can find it ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1353,"children":1356},{"href":1354,"rel":1355},"https://youtu.be/7raXBE5XH7Y",[427],[1357],{"type":420,"value":1358},"here",{"type":420,"value":1360}," (again it's in French). It was the first time I was doing a live on YouTube like that and this is not an easy exercise. Because it was a debate, you have to be ready to improvise to counter-argue. It's very different from a talk where you know exactly what you are going to say and when. But it was fun and I am grateful to ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1362,"children":1365},{"href":1363,"rel":1364},"https://www.youtube.com/@MTGFrance_org",[427],[1366],{"type":420,"value":1367},"Microsoft Tech Group",{"type":420,"value":1369}," for giving me the opportunity to participate in this debate.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":1371,"children":1372},{"id":816},[1373],{"type":420,"value":823},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1375,"children":1376},{},[1377],{"type":420,"value":1378},"I have already mentioned most of the things I want to do as a developer in 2023 but not all of them. So let's recap what are my plans for 2023 as a developer:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":1380,"children":1381},{},[1382,1386,1391,1395,1399,1403],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1383,"children":1384},{},[1385],{"type":420,"value":462},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1387,"children":1388},{},[1389],{"type":420,"value":1390},"explore Azure Container Apps and Dapr (I have already had a glimpse in 2022 but I want to know more)",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1392,"children":1393},{},[1394],{"type":420,"value":472},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1396,"children":1397},{},[1398],{"type":420,"value":477},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1400,"children":1401},{},[1402],{"type":420,"value":482},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1404,"children":1405},{},[1406],{"type":420,"value":487},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1408,"children":1409},{},[1410,1412,1419],{"type":420,"value":1411},"But above all, I want 2023 to be a year of learning and sharing as well. As I have said in ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1413,"children":1416},{"href":1414,"rel":1415},"https://www.techwatching.dev/posts/technology-watch-part3#sharing-is-learning",[427],[1417],{"type":420,"value":1418},"one of my articles",{"type":420,"value":1420}," sharing is learning because when you share something you are consolidating your knowledge and continuing your learning journey. So enjoy 2023 and keep learning.",{"title":401,"searchDepth":971,"depth":971,"links":1422},[1423,1424,1430],{"id":1027,"depth":971,"text":1030},{"id":1063,"depth":971,"text":1066,"children":1425},[1426,1428,1429],{"id":1075,"depth":1427,"text":1078},3,{"id":1140,"depth":1427,"text":5},{"id":533,"depth":1427,"text":536},{"id":816,"depth":971,"text":823},"content:1.posts:46.2022-retro.md","1.posts/46.2022-retro.md",{"_path":40,"_dir":399,"_draft":400,"_partial":400,"_locale":401,"title":39,"description":1434,"lead":1435,"date":1436,"image":1437,"badge":1439,"tags":1440,"body":1441,"_type":979,"_id":2021,"_source":981,"_file":2022,"_extension":983},"When I started writing this article I did not realize it would be so long so I decided afterward to split it into three parts that will each talk about an aspect of doing a technology watch:","Be part of the community","2020-10-29T00:00:00.000Z",{"src":1438},"/images/passion_1.jpg",{"label":408},[254],{"type":412,"children":1442,"toc":2002},[1443,1447,1482,1487,1493,1498,1521,1527,1532,1538,1543,1548,1557,1562,1568,1573,1582,1587,1593,1598,1603,1608,1617,1622,1628,1641,1647,1652,1661,1667,1672,1685,1694,1708,1714,1746,1755,1760,1788,1793,1802,1808,1813,1819,1824,1829,1834,1840,1845,1850,1859,1864,1897,1906,1911,1917,1922,1946,1951,1983,1987,1992,1997],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1444,"children":1445},{},[1446],{"type":420,"value":1434},{"type":415,"tag":1448,"props":1449,"children":1450},"ol",{},[1451,1461,1471],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1452,"children":1453},{},[1454],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1455,"children":1458},{"href":1456,"rel":1457},"https://techwatching.dev/posts/technology-watch-part1",[427],[1459],{"type":420,"value":1460},"Starting your journey with blogs and blogging/microblogging platforms",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1462,"children":1463},{},[1464],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1465,"children":1468},{"href":1466,"rel":1467},"https://www.techwatching.dev/posts/technology-watch-part2",[427],[1469],{"type":420,"value":1470},"Where to learn?",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1472,"children":1473},{},[1474,1480],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1475,"children":1478},{"href":1476,"rel":1477},"https://techwatching.dev/posts/technology-watch-part3",[427],[1479],{"type":420,"value":1435},{"type":420,"value":1481}," (this article)",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1483,"children":1484},{},[1485],{"type":420,"value":1486},"In the previous articles, we talked about reading blogs, using blogging/microblogging platforms, the places where to find interesting content, the different tools to learn new things... In fact, we talked mostly about things you can do all alone but I think that doing a technology watch should not be a lonely journey and that to do it you should be part of the community.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":1488,"children":1490},{"id":1489},"what-does-it-mean-to-be-part-of-the-community",[1491],{"type":420,"value":1492},"What does it mean \"to be part of the community\"?",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1494,"children":1495},{},[1496],{"type":420,"value":1497},"It is important to remind you that you are not alone in your technology watch. There are thousands and thousands of other developers working with the same technology stack or in the same area you are. These people are also trying to learn new skills and to share their existing knowledge with others. I think a technology watch should not only involve passively reading IT news. As I said when I talked about blogging and micro-blogging platforms, it is also nice to interact and discuss with other people. This is what I mean by \"be part of the community\": you are not alone, you are part of a technology community and it can help you with your technology watch and more.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1499,"children":1500},{},[1501,1503,1510,1512,1519],{"type":420,"value":1502},"When I started writing this section about being part of the community, I came across this ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1504,"children":1507},{"href":1505,"rel":1506},"https://getinvolved.hanselman.com/",[427],[1508],{"type":420,"value":1509},"free course",{"type":420,"value":1511}," from Scott Hanselman and Rob Conery called ",{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":1514,"children":1516},"code",{"className":1515},[],[1517],{"type":420,"value":1518},"Get Involved",{"type":420,"value":1520}," which deals with similar topics that the ones I want to talk about here. This video production is from 2013 but most of its content is still relevant so I highly recommend it to you. Indeed be part of the community entails getting involved in this community and I want to show you how you can do that.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":1522,"children":1524},{"id":1523},"participate-in-qa-platforms",[1525],{"type":420,"value":1526},"Participate in Q&A platforms",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1528,"children":1529},{},[1530],{"type":420,"value":1531},"As a developer, I am sure you spend a lot of time looking for answers to issues you face on the internet, and that many times you find them on a Q&A website. People's questions and answers help you but you can contribute to help your peers as well by asking pertinent questions and by answering questions on these Q&A websites.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1533,"children":1535},{"id":1534},"stackoverflow-the-famous-qa-platform",[1536],{"type":420,"value":1537},"StackOverflow: the famous Q&A platform",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1539,"children":1540},{},[1541],{"type":420,"value":1542},"Which software developer has never heard or used StackOverflow? Some people even mock developers by saying that their job is just about knowing how to use a search engine and browse StackOverflow. That is very reductive 😮 yet these are two important skills for a developer to have.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1544,"children":1545},{},[1546],{"type":420,"value":1547},"If you face an issue and are looking for help there is a good chance that someone already has faced this same issue and created a question on StackOverflow about it. StackOverflow has all sorts of developer questions grouped by tags you can follow. The more you contribute (by answering other people question or asking questions) the more privileges your gain: vote up, vote down, reduce ads...",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1549,"children":1550},{},[1551],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1552,"children":1556},{"alt":1553,"className":1554,"src":1555},"Stackoverflow tags page.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_stackoverflow_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1558,"children":1559},{},[1560],{"type":420,"value":1561},"I do not do it enough myself but I think it is important to contribute to StackOverflow or another Q&A platform. Whatever your seniority, there surely are some questions you can answer or comment and often questions will teach you something. Moreover, we often are in the consumer position using other people's questions to solve an issue we have but not enough in the contributor position of helping others too, so I think we should try to change that.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1563,"children":1565},{"id":1564},"microsoft-qa-a-new-qa-platform",[1566],{"type":420,"value":1567},"Microsoft Q&A: a new Q&A platform",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1569,"children":1570},{},[1571],{"type":420,"value":1572},"Microsoft Q&A is the new kid in town. Do not expect to find the same amount of content compared to 12 years old Q&A platforms like StackOverflow. But still, I think it is important to mention it as it is now the official Microsoft site for technical questions on Microsoft products and services (and in particular Azure services).",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1574,"children":1575},{},[1576],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1577,"children":1581},{"alt":1578,"className":1579,"src":1580},"Microsoft Q&A website.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_qanda_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1583,"children":1584},{},[1585],{"type":420,"value":1586},"So if you have some knowledge about a specific Microsoft product or service, do not hesitate to follow the corresponding tag on Microsoft Q&A and answer some questions.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":1588,"children":1590},{"id":1589},"sharing-is-learning",[1591],{"type":420,"value":1592},"Sharing is learning",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1594,"children":1595},{},[1596],{"type":420,"value":1597},"A good way to get involved in the community is to share the experience and knowledge you have acquired on some topics over the years. Whether it be in a blog, a podcast, a YouTube channel, or a Twitter account you can positively impact the tech community. 📰 🎵 📺",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1599,"children":1600},{},[1601],{"type":420,"value":1602},"However, when you create and share IT content you are not only helping others you are also helping yourself. You don't see how? Well, let's say you want to write a blog article about a library you recently used in a project. To write your article, you will have to do some additional search about this library and dive into parts of the library you did not have the opportunity to explore. In the end, you are consolidating your knowledge and continuing your path on your technology watch journey 😉.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1604,"children":1605},{},[1606],{"type":420,"value":1607},"But do not think you need to be a blogger or a Youtuber to share IT content with others. You can start just by doing it in your company: tell colleagues about a library you used to solve an issue, debate the front framework to choose for your next project, share with them a blog article you found interesting... I noticed that we sometimes only have technical discussions with people directly working with us on a project and do not think of exchanging with colleagues from other departments or working on different projects. 📢 You probably have an enterprise social networking service like Yammer in your company and such social networks are the perfect tools to communicate with other people in your company to share IT news, seek advice from experts about a framework you don't master, show an interesting architecture you implemented on a project... If you don't have that, just use the existing communication tools you already have: for instance both Microsoft Teams and Slack channels are nice places to discuss about technology. And I am pretty sure the time you will \"lose\" by publishing some content inside your company communication tools will be quickly compensated by what you will learn from discussing with others.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1609,"children":1610},{},[1611],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1612,"children":1616},{"alt":1613,"className":1614,"src":1615},"A typewriter with a sheet of paper that says sharing.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_sharing_1.jpg",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1618,"children":1619},{},[1620],{"type":420,"value":1621},"Another great way of sharing your knowledge is to do a technical presentation about a technology in your company. Be sure that the time you will spend preparing the presentation will make you learn a lot more than what you initially knew. And you will probably learn too from the exchange you will have with your colleagues that will attend your presentation. Most IT companies have this kind of internal talks during lunch breaks or after work to help people in the company benefit from experiences from each other. Of course, if you feel up to doing a talk publicly you can also do your talk at a conference or at a meetup which brings us to the next topic.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":1623,"children":1625},{"id":1624},"meet-the-community",[1626],{"type":420,"value":1627},"Meet the community",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1629,"children":1630},{},[1631,1633,1639],{"type":420,"value":1632},"User groups and conferences are the perfect places to interact with the community. You will meet there lots of technology enthusiasts that, like you, came to learn and to talk to fellow developers. Not only you will attend awesome talks but you will build your professional network. If you are interested in the .NET Community there is a dedicated page ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1634,"children":1637},{"href":1635,"rel":1636},"https://dotnet.microsoft.com/platform/community",[427],[1638],{"type":420,"value":1358},{"type":420,"value":1640}," where you will find all sorts of ways of interacting with the .NET community.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1642,"children":1644},{"id":1643},"discover-user-groups-and-meetups",[1645],{"type":420,"value":1646},"Discover user groups and meetups",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1648,"children":1649},{},[1650],{"type":420,"value":1651},"A user group is a group of people that use the same technology, service, or product (it could be .NET, Java, Azure, AWS for instance) and that regularly meet to talk about it, share news... A meetup is pretty similar: a community of people caring about the same thing (software craftmanship or Artificial Intelligence for example) and that organizes events to talk and learn about it. Whatever the technology you are working with, there is a very good chance that there is a user group or a meetup about it you can join near your location. That is the opportunity for you to meet passionate people outside your company and see how they use a technology in their work and exchange ideas with them. Such meetings generally take place after the working day so it is easier to attend than if it was during office hours.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1653,"children":1654},{},[1655],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1656,"children":1660},{"alt":1657,"className":1658,"src":1659},".NET Foundation meetup group page.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_meetup_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1662,"children":1664},{"id":1663},"go-to-conferences",[1665],{"type":420,"value":1666},"Go to conferences",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1668,"children":1669},{},[1670],{"type":420,"value":1671},"If you can convince your company to let you attend some IT conferences in the year just go for it because IT conferences are great. Sometimes you will even learn more by attending an IT conference than you would by attending a training course. Be present at an event dedicated to technology, learning, and networking is just awesome 🤩. There are many IT conferences, all very different: some are organized by a company, some are community-driven, some are about a specific topic, some are about IT in general, some are a one-day event, some last several days, some cost a lot, some are completely free... But they all have something in common, they are events that gather passionate people about technology.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1673,"children":1674},{},[1675,1677,1683],{"type":420,"value":1676},"We often talk about huge conferences organized by big companies but small local conferences are nice too. I live in Bordeaux where the BDX I/0 conference](",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1678,"children":1681},{"href":1679,"rel":1680},"https://www.bdxio.fr/",[427],[1682],{"type":420,"value":1679},{"type":420,"value":1684},") takes place, I have attended it a couple of times and I can only recommend it. The speakers are good, talks are interesting, and it's in my city: no plane or train to take to go there. Unfortunately, there are almost no talks about .NET or Azure at BDX I/O but that means it is the opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone and learn about other technologies. It is also a place to see former colleagues and acquaintances, IT is a small world especially in Bordeaux. I am speaking about Bordeaux because it is where I live but there is likely a developer conference that takes place in your town so do not hesitate to attend it.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1686,"children":1687},{},[1688],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1689,"children":1693},{"alt":1690,"className":1691,"src":1692},"BDX I/O logo.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_bdxioio_1.jpg",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1695,"children":1696},{},[1697,1699,1706],{"type":420,"value":1698},"Under the current circumstances with the pandemic, a lot of tech conferences have been canceled but many have also gone virtual like Microsoft events. Companies had to reinvent their events that went online and it brought ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1700,"children":1703},{"href":1701,"rel":1702},"https://youtu.be/cbKubzGN4z8",[427],[1704],{"type":420,"value":1705},"interesting things",{"type":420,"value":1707}," like more inclusivity. So even if it will not replace face-to-face interaction, attending virtual conferences is a good way to interact with the community.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1709,"children":1711},{"id":1710},"find-other-community-events",[1712],{"type":420,"value":1713},"Find other community events",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1715,"children":1716},{},[1717,1719,1726,1728,1735,1737,1744],{"type":420,"value":1718},"Conferences and meetups are not the only events where you can meet the community. Your tech community and in particular people working on developing the tech probably organize live events to share news about how technology evolves. For instance, for .NET developers, there are .NET Community Standup sessions that are organized to show off community contributions and work done by the different .NET teams. Anyone can watch and ask its questions during these live events that you can find ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1720,"children":1723},{"href":1721,"rel":1722},"https://dotnet.microsoft.com/platform/community/standup",[427],[1724],{"type":420,"value":1725},"on .NET Community Standup page of .NET website",{"type":420,"value":1727}," or ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1729,"children":1732},{"href":1730,"rel":1731},"https://dotnet.microsoft.com/live",[427],[1733],{"type":420,"value":1734},"on .NET Live TV",{"type":420,"value":1736},". Another good example of community events like that is ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1738,"children":1741},{"href":1739,"rel":1740},"https://www.youtube.com/c/AzureFunctions",[427],[1742],{"type":420,"value":1743},"Azure Functions Live",{"type":420,"value":1745}," that occurs once a month and is the occasion to ask questions to the Azure Functions team and learn what new features they have been developing.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1747,"children":1748},{},[1749],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1750,"children":1754},{"alt":1751,"className":1752,"src":1753},".NET Community Standup.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_dotnetcommunity_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1756,"children":1757},{},[1758],{"type":420,"value":1759},"Many community events are more about watching teams that explain what they are working on rather than interacting with them. But that is not always the case, they are events where you can engage more. For example, Microsoft organizes \"developer community calls\" on Microsoft 365 topics (Microsoft Graph, Microsoft Teams...) which consist of Microsoft Teams meetings once a month and open to everyone. During these calls, the Microsoft team working on the topic of the community call will:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":1761,"children":1762},{},[1763,1768,1773,1778,1783],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1764,"children":1765},{},[1766],{"type":420,"value":1767},"show you what they are currently developing and what are they planning to develop next",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1769,"children":1770},{},[1771],{"type":420,"value":1772},"ask for your feedback on what they are showing you (either directly during the call or by giving you a link to a survey)",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1774,"children":1775},{},[1776],{"type":420,"value":1777},"tell you how to test new features or how to access private previews",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1779,"children":1780},{},[1781],{"type":420,"value":1782},"answer your questions and sometimes try to help with issues you are facing with the technology",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1784,"children":1785},{},[1786],{"type":420,"value":1787},"allow community members to present demonstrations of how they are using the technology or product in their context",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1789,"children":1790},{},[1791],{"type":420,"value":1792},"These community calls are meetings, so even if they are lots of people in them and you stay most of the time on mute while people are presenting, there is always a time where you can ask your questions. Being able to talk to people building the technology or the product you are using, to explain your needs and issues, to ask questions, and to give feedback is I think an awesome opportunity and the reason why these community events are so important.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1794,"children":1795},{},[1796],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1797,"children":1801},{"alt":1798,"className":1799,"src":1800},"List of Microsoft 365 community calls.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_m365community_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":1803,"children":1805},{"id":1804},"contribute-to-open-source",[1806],{"type":420,"value":1807},"Contribute to open source",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1809,"children":1810},{},[1811],{"type":420,"value":1812},"This part could probably be the topic of an entire blog post and I guess you can already find on the web lots of articles that are written about contributing to open source. So I will try to keep it short and to focus on some aspects that are important in the context of a technology watch.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1814,"children":1816},{"id":1815},"write-open-source-software",[1817],{"type":420,"value":1818},"Write open source software",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1820,"children":1821},{},[1822],{"type":420,"value":1823},"Maybe you have a side project that you develop during your free time that others could benefit from. Contributing to open source can be as easy as publishing your side project on GitHub or any other hosting platform for open source projects. If other developers are interested in your project, they might help you build it or simply give you feedback which is always nice.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1825,"children":1826},{},[1827],{"type":420,"value":1828},"You may also want to contribute to an existing open source project that you are interested in and become a contributor to this project. Starting on an existing project which might be a few years old can seem difficult but most open source projects have tags to identify tasks that are suitable for newcomers like \"up-for-grabs\", \"good-first-issue\", \"beginner-friendly\".",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1830,"children":1831},{},[1832],{"type":420,"value":1833},"And sometimes, contributing happens naturally as part of your job without particularly wanting to contribute to open source. Let's take an example: the project you are working on has an issue that seems to be linked to an open source library you are using. You identify the bug causing the issue and create an issue to report it, you find the correction and create a pull request to correct the library, your pull request is merged and a new version of the library is released that solves your initial issue. That way you contributed to an open source project while doing your job and working for your project.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1835,"children":1837},{"id":1836},"become-familiar-with-github",[1838],{"type":420,"value":1839},"Become familiar with GitHub",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1841,"children":1842},{},[1843],{"type":420,"value":1844},"It seems difficult not to mention GitHub when talking about open source. There are many great platforms people can use to host their open source projects but in my opinion, GitHub is the main one and has become the heart of the open source community.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1846,"children":1847},{},[1848],{"type":420,"value":1849},"Nowadays as a developer, I think it is important to be familiar with GitHub. I know what some people will say: \"I don't have a side project hosted in GitHub and I don't really care about open source so I don't need to be familiar with GitHub\". Sure, you may have no interest in open source but the language, the framework and the libraries you are using are most likely to be open source and to have their code hosted in GitHub. That means you will end up using GitHub anyway.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1851,"children":1852},{},[1853],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1854,"children":1858},{"alt":1855,"className":1856,"src":1857},"GitHub website header.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_github_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1860,"children":1861},{},[1862],{"type":420,"value":1863},"To be honest I am quite surprised by how much time I spend on GitHub daily (and I assure you it is not to have a good time reading code from fun open source projects 😀). Yet my company or the companies I work for are not releasing their projects as open source software and are not using GitHub enterprise either. So why am I spending a lot of time on GitHub then? Well, here are some reasons why I need to use GitHub to do my job:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":1865,"children":1866},{},[1867,1872,1877,1882,1887,1892],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1868,"children":1869},{},[1870],{"type":420,"value":1871},"Look for a solution in the GitHub issues of a library or framework to help me solve an issue I am facing",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1873,"children":1874},{},[1875],{"type":420,"value":1876},"Use GitHub issues of an SDK to report a bug I found when using this SDK on my project",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1878,"children":1879},{},[1880],{"type":420,"value":1881},"Read the documentation in the GitHub wiki of a library my project uses",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1883,"children":1884},{},[1885],{"type":420,"value":1886},"Look for code samples on how to use a library or framework I need to implement on my project",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1888,"children":1889},{},[1890],{"type":420,"value":1891},"Deep dive into the code of a library or framework to understand how things are working",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":1893,"children":1894},{},[1895],{"type":420,"value":1896},"Check the release notes of a dependency I want to upgrade on my project",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1898,"children":1899},{},[1900],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":1901,"children":1905},{"alt":1902,"className":1903,"src":1904},"An hourglass sitting on top of a pile of rocks.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_time_1.jpg",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1907,"children":1908},{},[1909],{"type":420,"value":1910},"These are just examples but they are many more. As I wrote, I use a lot GitHub Issues which is a really useful tool to report a bug, create a feature request, keep yourself informed about bugs or requests created by others (just click on the subscribe button in an issue), discuss on problems you could have and find an existing solution on closed issues. And when you think of it, doing that is already contributing to open source projects. You may not be writing code on a project but filling a detailed bug report and providing the code to reproduce it is already helpful. And by discussing with the maintainers of a project and other members of the community on an issue thread you can affect how a product will evolve.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":1912,"children":1914},{"id":1913},"contributing-not-only-a-question-of-writing-code",[1915],{"type":420,"value":1916},"Contributing, not only a question of writing code",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1918,"children":1919},{},[1920],{"type":420,"value":1921},"We often think contributing to open source is just pushing commits to an open source repository but it is far more than that. A good illustration of that is those 2 tweets from Miguel de Icaza (known for starting Gnome, Mono, and Xamarin projects):",{"type":415,"tag":1923,"props":1924,"children":1930},"div",{"className":1925},[1926,1927,1928,1929],"flex","space-x-4","justify-center","items-center",[1931,1939],{"type":415,"tag":1923,"props":1932,"children":1933},{},[1934],{"type":415,"tag":1935,"props":1936,"children":1938},"tweet",{"id":1937},"1100751069372735488",[],{"type":415,"tag":1923,"props":1940,"children":1941},{},[1942],{"type":415,"tag":1935,"props":1943,"children":1945},{"id":1944},"675514897065709568",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1947,"children":1948},{},[1949],{"type":420,"value":1950},"As Miguel says, documentation is very important so contributing to documentation is as much important as contributing to code. If you read the previous article from this series, you know that all Microsoft documentation is open source on GitHub hence easily editable. When browsing a page of Microsoft documentation you just have to click on the edit button to navigate to the markdown file corresponding to this page on GitHub and you can easily do a pull request to submit a change. I am mentioning it to tell you that documentation can often be an easy way to contribute to open source.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1952,"children":1953},{},[1954,1956,1963,1965,1972,1974,1981],{"type":420,"value":1955},"I already talked about how creating issues and participating in existing issues of an open source project is a way of contributing to it. I talked about GitHub Issues to discuss some topics with the rest of the community but it might not be the most suitable tool for that. When it will come out of Beta, GitHub Discussions will probably be a better place than GitHub Issues to have a discussion, but meanwhile, they are other options. Indeed, many open source communities use other tools like ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1957,"children":1960},{"href":1958,"rel":1959},"https://gitter.im/",[427],[1961],{"type":420,"value":1962},"Gitter",{"type":420,"value":1964},", ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1966,"children":1969},{"href":1967,"rel":1968},"https://slack.com/",[427],[1970],{"type":420,"value":1971},"Slack",{"type":420,"value":1973},", or ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":1975,"children":1978},{"href":1976,"rel":1977},"https://discord.com/",[427],[1979],{"type":420,"value":1980},"Discord",{"type":420,"value":1982}," (not only for 🎮 😉) to talk. But whatever the tool, interacting with others is essential to contributing to an open source project.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":1984,"children":1985},{"id":933},[1986],{"type":420,"value":936},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1988,"children":1989},{},[1990],{"type":420,"value":1991},"This article concludes my series of articles about how to do a technology watch. It was the opportunity for me to share my vision of an IT technology watch which involves following IT content, learning from different sources / through different ways, interacting with developers of your community, and contributing to this community.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1993,"children":1994},{},[1995],{"type":420,"value":1996},"Even if you are organized, doing a proper technology watch takes a lot of time so it is really important to make your company understand that it is an essential part of your job and you should have dedicated time to do it. The choice of a technology might be what will make your next project successful or not, and you have better chances to be able to make the right choice if you stay up to date with the latest IT changes. And do not forget learning is everyone's business, whatever its seniority, time to do a technology watch should not be kept for experienced developers only.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":1998,"children":1999},{},[2000],{"type":420,"value":2001},"In this article, I told you how I was doing my technology watch but there are as many ways as people doing a technology watch: choose what suits you best! I hope you will have learned new things reading these articles about doing a technology watch, even if it's just a new resource, a link to bookmark, or a tool to use.",{"title":401,"searchDepth":971,"depth":971,"links":2003},[2004,2005,2009,2010,2015,2020],{"id":1489,"depth":971,"text":1492},{"id":1523,"depth":971,"text":1526,"children":2006},[2007,2008],{"id":1534,"depth":1427,"text":1537},{"id":1564,"depth":1427,"text":1567},{"id":1589,"depth":971,"text":1592},{"id":1624,"depth":971,"text":1627,"children":2011},[2012,2013,2014],{"id":1643,"depth":1427,"text":1646},{"id":1663,"depth":1427,"text":1666},{"id":1710,"depth":1427,"text":1713},{"id":1804,"depth":971,"text":1807,"children":2016},[2017,2018,2019],{"id":1815,"depth":1427,"text":1818},{"id":1836,"depth":1427,"text":1839},{"id":1913,"depth":1427,"text":1916},{"id":933,"depth":971,"text":936},"content:1.posts:11.technology-watch-part3.md","1.posts/11.technology-watch-part3.md",{"_path":34,"_dir":399,"_draft":400,"_partial":400,"_locale":401,"title":33,"description":2024,"lead":1470,"date":2025,"image":2026,"badge":2028,"tags":2029,"body":2030,"_type":979,"_id":2697,"_source":981,"_file":2698,"_extension":983},"Learn tech efficiently: blogs, docs, videos, interactive sites.","2020-09-18T00:00:00.000Z",{"src":2027},"/images/classroom_1.jpg",{"label":408},[254],{"type":412,"children":2031,"toc":2676},[2032,2036,2066,2071,2077,2082,2088,2093,2116,2144,2153,2166,2172,2226,2231,2240,2261,2270,2276,2281,2287,2292,2301,2341,2347,2361,2370,2376,2390,2396,2401,2407,2421,2426,2432,2438,2451,2465,2470,2476,2490,2499,2505,2510,2515,2524,2553,2559,2572,2604,2613,2635,2644,2649,2655,2660,2666,2671],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2033,"children":2034},{},[2035],{"type":420,"value":1434},{"type":415,"tag":1448,"props":2037,"children":2038},{},[2039,2048,2058],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2040,"children":2041},{},[2042],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2043,"children":2046},{"href":2044,"rel":2045},"https://www.techwatching.dev/posts/technology-watch-part1",[427],[2047],{"type":420,"value":1460},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2049,"children":2050},{},[2051,2057],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2052,"children":2055},{"href":2053,"rel":2054},"https://techwatching.dev/posts/technology-watch-part2",[427],[2056],{"type":420,"value":1470},{"type":420,"value":1481},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2059,"children":2060},{},[2061],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2062,"children":2064},{"href":1476,"rel":2063},[427],[2065],{"type":420,"value":1435},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2067,"children":2068},{},[2069],{"type":420,"value":2070},"In the previous article, we talked about blog posts and blogging/microblogging platforms. But a technology watch is not only about reading IT news and commenting on people's posts, it is above all about learning new things. That is why you have to find which medium/resource or combination of media/resources will be more efficient for you to learn from (in fact it depends on what type of learner you are).",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":2072,"children":2074},{"id":2073},"reading",[2075],{"type":420,"value":2076},"Reading",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2078,"children":2079},{},[2080],{"type":420,"value":2081},"I already talked in my previous article about reading blog posts, tweets ... but these are not the only resources to read. 📚",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2083,"children":2085},{"id":2084},"documentation-is-your-friend",[2086],{"type":420,"value":2087},"Documentation is your friend",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2089,"children":2090},{},[2091],{"type":420,"value":2092},"When you want to learn more about a technology, a framework, or a tool the best place to start is its documentation 📄. Because it can sometimes be quite boring to read, documentation is often overlooked unless looking for a specific piece of information. It is a shame because there is so much useful content you can find in good documentation: concepts to understand, a functionality you did not know, tutorials to do ...",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2094,"children":2095},{},[2096,2098,2105,2107,2114],{"type":420,"value":2097},"Microsoft's documentation used to be scattered all over the web with lots of different sites depending on the products and the teams building them. So what they did is they built a new documentation platform from scratch to create ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2099,"children":2102},{"href":2100,"rel":2101},"https://docs.microsoft.com/",[427],[2103],{"type":420,"value":2104},"Microsoft Docs",{"type":420,"value":2106}," (to know more about it watch this ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2108,"children":2111},{"href":2109,"rel":2110},"https://youtu.be/EpYYe6aQjJM",[427],[2112],{"type":420,"value":2113},"NDC talk",{"type":420,"value":2115},") and it is now in my opinion, one of the best documentation platforms:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":2117,"children":2118},{},[2119,2124,2129,2134,2139],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2120,"children":2121},{},[2122],{"type":420,"value":2123},"all the Microsoft documentation are centralized in one place",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2125,"children":2126},{},[2127],{"type":420,"value":2128},"documentation is open source on GitHub for you to contribute to it",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2130,"children":2131},{},[2132],{"type":420,"value":2133},"content is easily searchable and can be bookmarked",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2135,"children":2136},{},[2137],{"type":420,"value":2138},"there is an API Browser to quickly find the API reference you are looking for",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2140,"children":2141},{},[2142],{"type":420,"value":2143},"there are nice little features like downloading documentation as PDF or dark mode 🐱‍👤",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2145,"children":2146},{},[2147],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2148,"children":2152},{"alt":2149,"className":2150,"src":2151},"Microsoft Lean website",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_msdocs_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2154,"children":2155},{},[2156,2158,2165],{"type":420,"value":2157},"If you are not convinced to go and have a look at Microsoft Docs, maybe you will be when I will tell you that some parts of the documentation are interactive. That means some samples of code can be run directly in the browser, for instance, the C# code on this ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2159,"children":2162},{"href":2160,"rel":2161},"https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/language-reference/operators/lambda-expressions#code-try-4",[427],[2163],{"type":420,"value":2164},"page",{"type":420,"value":723},{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2167,"children":2169},{"id":2168},"choose-which-books-to-read",[2170],{"type":420,"value":2171},"Choose which books to read",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2173,"children":2174},{},[2175,2177,2188,2189,2200,2201,2212,2213,2224],{"type":420,"value":2176},"If you love reading, then grab a tech book to go into a topic in depth 📖. Unless you are only working on preview technologies, it is very likely that someone has written a book on the technology you are working on. They are books about everything in IT and there are also publishers specialized in programming and computer technology topics like ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2178,"children":2181},{"href":2179,"rel":2180},"https://www.manning.com/",[427],[2182],{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":2183,"children":2185},{"className":2184},[],[2186],{"type":420,"value":2187},"Manning Publications",{"type":420,"value":1964},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2190,"children":2193},{"href":2191,"rel":2192},"https://www.oreilly.com/",[427],[2194],{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":2195,"children":2197},{"className":2196},[],[2198],{"type":420,"value":2199},"O'Reilly",{"type":420,"value":1964},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2202,"children":2205},{"href":2203,"rel":2204},"https://www.microsoftpressstore.com/",[427],[2206],{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":2207,"children":2209},{"className":2208},[],[2210],{"type":420,"value":2211},"Microsoft Press",{"type":420,"value":1964},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2214,"children":2217},{"href":2215,"rel":2216},"https://www.packtpub.com/",[427],[2218],{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":2219,"children":2221},{"className":2220},[],[2222],{"type":420,"value":2223},"Packt",{"type":420,"value":2225}," just to name a few. Books published by this kind of companies are written by experts in their field so should be of good quality and allow you to deep dive into things.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2227,"children":2228},{},[2229],{"type":420,"value":2230},"The downside of IT books is that technologies are moving fast, so books about a specific technology quickly become outdated. What is the point of spending time reading about .NET Framework 1.0 or Windows XP books (even if the books are wonderfully written) now that we are working in .NET Core 3.1 (and soon in .NET 5.0 🐱‍🏍) and Windows 10? I don't say you wouldn't learn anything by doing so but your time would probably be better spent learning other things. And some things are important whatever the technology, the programming language, or the context: writing clean code, be able to refactor code (and especially legacy code), using Agile practices, knowing some design patterns, understanding domain driven design ... Use your favorite search engine and you will find many lists of must-read books for Software developers that talk about these topics. Some of these books have been written 20 years ago and are still completely relevant so my advice is to choose these kinds of books about general software development rather than technology-specific books.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2232,"children":2233},{},[2234],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2235,"children":2239},{"alt":2236,"className":2237,"src":2238},"A bunch of books stacked on top of each other.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_book_1.jpg",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2241,"children":2242},{},[2243,2245,2251,2253,2259],{"type":420,"value":2244},"I am fond of reading myself, yet I have trouble reading technology-related books. I am motivated at first but I find it hard not to get bored after a few chapters. Reading software books looks too much like work whereas reading should be a fun moment to relax. If you don't have this problem, reading books can be a big part of your technology watch! And whether or not you do, there is an excellent book about IT and DevOps that I really enjoyed reading and that I can only suggest you read: ",{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":2246,"children":2248},{"className":2247},[],[2249],{"type":420,"value":2250},"The Phoenix Project",{"type":420,"value":2252}," by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr, and George Spafford. If you have not heard of it before it is a novel, hence really easy and pleasant to read, in which you follow the problems faced by an IT manager in a company called Parts Unlimited. There is a sequel called ",{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":2254,"children":2256},{"className":2255},[],[2257],{"type":420,"value":2258},"The Unicorn Project",{"type":420,"value":2260}," by Gene Kim that I did not read yet but which is high on my reading list as I find awesome this kind of book that teaches you a lot in a narrative way. If you know other IT novels, don't hesitate to give their titles in the comments.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2262,"children":2263},{},[2264],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2265,"children":2269},{"alt":2266,"className":2267,"src":2268},"Covers of the Phoenix Project and the Unicorn Project books.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_books_2.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":2271,"children":2273},{"id":2272},"watching-videos",[2274],{"type":420,"value":2275},"Watching videos",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2277,"children":2278},{},[2279],{"type":420,"value":2280},"If reading is not your thing then maybe watching software development videos will be a better option for you. Whatever the topic and the format (short or long videos) you will probably find lots and lots of videos 📺 to teach you what you want to learn.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2282,"children":2284},{"id":2283},"find-lots-of-content-on-youtube",[2285],{"type":420,"value":2286},"Find lots of content on YouTube",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2288,"children":2289},{},[2290],{"type":420,"value":2291},"Among all the online video-sharing platforms you can find with technological content, the major one for me is YouTube, not because of its features but because of its diversity and wealth of content. As you can have multiple YouTube accounts linked to the same Google address you can create a dedicated account for your technological watch. Then you use this account to subscribe to all the channels you are interested in to be notified when a new video is published. Subscribing to a channel is a bit like adding a blog to your RSS feed reader, you will not watch all the videos but you want to be notified about new content in case something appeals to you. Moreover, a YouTube channel is kind of a blog with videos instead of articles. Therefore if you know some software developers with good teaching skills and they have a YouTube channel, don't hesitate to subscribe to it.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2293,"children":2294},{},[2295],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2296,"children":2300},{"alt":2297,"className":2298,"src":2299},"List of YouTube channels.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_youtube_2.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2302,"children":2303},{},[2304,2306,2313,2315,2322,2323,2330,2332,2339],{"type":420,"value":2305},"There are also many channels that are more organization or company channels that can be interesting too. For instance, there is a ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2307,"children":2310},{"href":2308,"rel":2309},"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsMica-v34Irf9KVTh6xx-g",[427],[2311],{"type":420,"value":2312},"Microsoft Developer channel",{"type":420,"value":2314},", a ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2316,"children":2319},{"href":2317,"rel":2318},"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe-f02uZgEXdHmHpC3loAQg",[427],[2320],{"type":420,"value":2321},"Xamarin Developers channel",{"type":420,"value":2314},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2324,"children":2327},{"href":2325,"rel":2326},"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvtT19MZW8dq5Wwfu6B0oxw",[427],[2328],{"type":420,"value":2329},".NET foundation channel",{"type":420,"value":2331}," and so on. I also liked the fact that some IT conferences organizations upload videos of their talks on their channel. One I particularly enjoy is ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2333,"children":2336},{"href":2334,"rel":2335},"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTdw38Cw6jcm0atBPA39a0Q",[427],[2337],{"type":420,"value":2338},"NDC Conferences channel",{"type":420,"value":2340},". Unfortunately, I have never been to an NDC conference but their talks are awesome with great speakers and topics so it is nice to be able to watch their replays. Outside channels, on YouTube you can also come across interesting playlists about an IT topic in particular.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2342,"children":2344},{"id":2343},"wants-microsoft-content-try-channel-9",[2345],{"type":420,"value":2346},"Wants Microsoft content? try Channel 9",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2348,"children":2349},{},[2350,2352,2359],{"type":420,"value":2351},"As someone working with Microsoft technologies every day, I cannot avoid talking about ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2353,"children":2356},{"href":2354,"rel":2355},"https://channel9.msdn.com/",[427],[2357],{"type":420,"value":2358},"Channel 9",{"type":420,"value":2360},". Channel 9 is a Microsoft community site hosting videos mostly about Microsoft products and technologies. A lot of the content is organized in shows focused on an area like the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, DevOps, Xamarin, Visual Studio... Episodes of these shows are published regularly. Usually, hosts shows are receiving a different guest in each episode to talk about a subject in particular, which is nice because these guests are experts in their field. Events (mostly Microsoft conferences) are live broadcasted on the site and talks of these events are available in replay there. You can sign in to the website with your Microsoft account to post comments under videos and subscribe to channels. One thing to know is that most of the videos published on Channel 9 are also published on YouTube where you can find them on specific channels.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2362,"children":2363},{},[2364],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2365,"children":2369},{"alt":2366,"className":2367,"src":2368},"Channel 9 website subscriptions.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_channel9_2.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2371,"children":2373},{"id":2372},"get-more-interaction-with-live-streams",[2374],{"type":420,"value":2375},"Get more interaction with live streams",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2377,"children":2378},{},[2379,2381,2388],{"type":420,"value":2380},"The rise of social networks showed that you don't need anymore a recording studio to make a good quality video. There are now a lot of IT professionals who share their knowledge by live streaming from home when developing software. Watching other developers live coding is one of the best ways to improve your development skills. Developers are sharing their thoughts while they are coding and you can generally interact with them and other people watching the stream via chat. It's way more interactive than just watching a recorded video. Many developer advocates are live streaming on ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2382,"children":2385},{"href":2383,"rel":2384},"https://www.twitch.tv/",[427],[2386],{"type":420,"value":2387},"Twitch",{"type":420,"value":2389}," which is a service well known for video game live streaming. So it might be a good place to start if you want to start watching live streams.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2391,"children":2393},{"id":2392},"finding-the-time-to-watch-videos",[2394],{"type":420,"value":2395},"Finding the time to watch videos",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2397,"children":2398},{},[2399],{"type":420,"value":2400},"Let's be honest, watching technical videos take time, a lot of time you may not have. But maybe you can replace one of the many Netflix TV shows I am sure you are watching with a Channel 9 show related to a domain you are interested in. And maybe there are some moments when what you do does not require your full attention and you can watch a technical video in parallel, while cooking or ironing for instance (be careful not to get burned yet 🔥). For me, it's ironing, as it is a boring activity I find it nice to be able to learn things while doing it (although if you ask my girlfriend it makes me quite slow at ironing my clothes 🤣). One tip to win a little bit of time when the speakers on a video are speaking slowly is to increase the playback speed of the video to 1,25 or 1,5 (most of the online video-sharing platforms have this feature). Of course, that will not work for live streams which is the reason why I don't often watch some: too much time-consuming.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":2402,"children":2404},{"id":2403},"podcasts-why-not-listening-to-one",[2405],{"type":420,"value":2406},"Podcasts: why not listening to one?",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2408,"children":2409},{},[2410,2412,2419],{"type":420,"value":2411},"There is a great offer of IT podcasts if listening to podcasts 🎙 is something you like. IT podcasts are often quite similar to the Channel 9 shows I talked about: they are focused on a domain (Cloud, DevOps, mobile development, ...) and podcasts hosts are receiving a different expert to talk about a topic (technology, framework, language, new feature, ...) in each episode. There are many free applications that you can download on your smartphone to search, subscribe and listen to podcasts. I only tried ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2413,"children":2416},{"href":2414,"rel":2415},"https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.podcasts&hl=en",[427],[2417],{"type":420,"value":2418},"Google Podcasts",{"type":420,"value":2420}," which does the job but don't hesitate to read applications comparison to find the best application for you.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2422,"children":2423},{},[2424],{"type":420,"value":2425},"At first, I was quite reluctant to listen to podcasts as I think I am more a visual learner than an auditory learner. Moreover, I like to see code and not only listen to someone. But I tried anyway and I have to say some podcasts are really good and even if you don't see code you will hear about frameworks or tools you did not know about and improve your knowledge on a topic. It will never be my favorite way to learn software but I don't mind listening to a podcast episode while gardening 👨‍🌾.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":2427,"children":2429},{"id":2428},"learning-platforms-do-not-forget-them",[2430],{"type":420,"value":2431},"Learning platforms, do not forget them",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2433,"children":2435},{"id":2434},"what-are-they",[2436],{"type":420,"value":2437},"What are they ?",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2439,"children":2440},{},[2441,2443,2449],{"type":420,"value":2442},"Trying to answer the question ",{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":2444,"children":2446},{"className":2445},[],[2447],{"type":420,"value":2448},"Where to learn ?",{"type":420,"value":2450}," without talking about learning platforms would be wrong because they are interesting places where to acquire IT skills. So what can I say about learning platforms? Well, they are plenty of them, for some you have to pay a subscription fee whereas others are free of charge. Their content is often a mix of videos and tutorials. They sometimes offer course certificates of completion and often use gamification: the more courses you take the more badges and trophies you obtain and the higher is your level/rank on the platform.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2452,"children":2453},{},[2454,2456,2463],{"type":420,"value":2455},"Learning platforms have a tendency to be bought or replaced by other services. Microsoft used to have different websites that offered training like Microsoft Virtual Academy (with lots of video courses) but they have been merged or replaced by the ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2457,"children":2460},{"href":2458,"rel":2459},"https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/",[427],[2461],{"type":420,"value":2462},"Microsoft Learn platform",{"type":420,"value":2464},". One platform that I liked a lot was Code School but it disappeared when it was bought by another learning platform named Pluralsight. What I found great with Code School was that hands-on training was an important part of the courses which is often not the case with other services where learning just involves watching videos.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2466,"children":2467},{},[2468],{"type":420,"value":2469},"So what learning platforms can I suggest to you?",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2471,"children":2473},{"id":2472},"edx-discover-a-great-open-source-platform",[2474],{"type":420,"value":2475},"edX: discover a great open source platform",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2477,"children":2478},{},[2479,2481,2488],{"type":420,"value":2480},"I like ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2482,"children":2485},{"href":2483,"rel":2484},"https://www.edx.org/",[427],[2486],{"type":420,"value":2487},"edX",{"type":420,"value":2489}," which is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) provider created by Harvard and MIT and which is both non-profit and open source 🤩. They have courses from a lot of organizations (whether it be top-ranked universities or industry-leading companies) in a huge variety of domains (IT is just one among many). You can take their online courses for free and you only have to pay if you want to submit graded assessments, earn a certificate of completion, or access archived courses. Microsoft previously offered many courses on edX which was particularly useful to prepare for certifications but it does not seem the case anymore.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2491,"children":2492},{},[2493],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2494,"children":2498},{"alt":2495,"className":2496,"src":2497},"edX logo.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_edx.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2500,"children":2502},{"id":2501},"pluralsight-learn-from-subject-matter-experts",[2503],{"type":420,"value":2504},"Pluralsight: learn from subject-matter experts",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2506,"children":2507},{},[2508],{"type":420,"value":2509},"I mentioned earlier Pluralsight which offers video training courses for IT professionals. Courses are authored by subject-matter experts that earn royalties depending on the number of people watching their videos lessons. Of course the quality of the content depends on the author but Pluralsight courses are generally really good and well constructed. I find convenient the way the content is organized on the website: courses are grouped by path, each path corresponding to a topic, an area, or a certification (Microsoft, Google, AWS, ...). You can bookmark a course, follow an author, or create your channels to organize the content you are interested in.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2511,"children":2512},{},[2513],{"type":420,"value":2514},"I would not rely entirely on Pluralsight to prepare for certification yet it is a huge advantage for revising. It is especially true for Microsoft certifications because of the number of courses authored by Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals. And there are also tests to measure your skills and see your skills gaps for a role. The website is not video training only, since Pluralsight acquired other learning platforms there is also some hands-on training (interactive courses and projects). Interactive courses are nice but there are too few of them and unless you are learning something from scratch you may find them too basic. That is for me the weak point of Pluralsight, not enough content to apply what is learned during video courses.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2516,"children":2517},{},[2518],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2519,"children":2523},{"alt":2520,"className":2521,"src":2522},"Pluralsight logo.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_pluralsight_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2525,"children":2526},{},[2527,2529,2535,2537,2543,2545,2552],{"type":420,"value":2528},"Unfortunately, all of this content is not free and is even pretty expensive unless your company can offer you a license. You can have one to several months for free (depending on your Visual Studio subscription) to test the platform by going to ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2530,"children":2533},{"href":2531,"rel":2532},"https://my.visualstudio.com/Benefits",[427],[2534],{"type":420,"value":2531},{"type":420,"value":2536},". Another tip is to create an account ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2538,"children":2541},{"href":2539,"rel":2540},"https://www.pluralsight.com/partners/microsoft/azure",[427],[2542],{"type":420,"value":1358},{"type":420,"value":2544}," that gives you access to a lot of Azure video courses for free thanks to a ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2546,"children":2549},{"href":2547,"rel":2548},"https://help.pluralsight.com/help/microsoft-azure-courses",[427],[2550],{"type":420,"value":2551},"partnership between Microsoft and Pluralsight",{"type":420,"value":723},{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2554,"children":2556},{"id":2555},"microsoft-learn-learn-by-doing",[2557],{"type":420,"value":2558},"Microsoft Learn: learn by doing",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2560,"children":2561},{},[2562,2564,2570],{"type":420,"value":2563},"Microsoft Learn is Microsoft new learning website launched in 2018. Course modules are categorized by products, roles, and levels which makes their content easily searchable. As for Pluralsight, modules are grouped by learning path that corresponds to a technology area or certification. The platform aims at providing people with self-paced guided learning about Microsoft products and technologies. Modules are divided into short steps which means that whether you have a 10 minutes slot or a 2 hours slot you will be able to learn at your own pace. You can bookmark modules or add them to ",{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":2565,"children":2567},{"className":2566},[],[2568],{"type":420,"value":2569},"collections",{"type":420,"value":2571}," to organize your learning content.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2573,"children":2574},{},[2575,2577,2584,2586,2593,2595,2602],{"type":420,"value":2576},"Even if the platform is primarily focused on Microsoft products and technologies, you will find content about other technologies too like this ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2578,"children":2581},{"href":2579,"rel":2580},"https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/paths/python-first-steps/",[427],[2582],{"type":420,"value":2583},"learning path for Python",{"type":420,"value":2585},". You will also find interesting tutorials on how to use an Azure service with a non-Microsoft technology, for instance ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2587,"children":2590},{"href":2588,"rel":2589},"https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/azure-spring-cloud-workshop/",[427],[2591],{"type":420,"value":2592},"this module",{"type":420,"value":2594}," about Spring Boot or ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2596,"children":2599},{"href":2597,"rel":2598},"https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/modules/publish-app-service-static-web-app-api/",[427],[2600],{"type":420,"value":2601},"this one",{"type":420,"value":2603}," on how to deploy a SPA on an Azure Static Web App. Indeed, Microsoft's goal is to make you use their products: they want to show you that Azure is the \"best place for all your applications and data\" whatever the programming language or framework you are using. Yet whatever their purpose, the modules are well made and it's nice to find this kind of content on a Microsoft learning platform.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2605,"children":2606},{},[2607],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2608,"children":2612},{"alt":2609,"className":2610,"src":2611},"Microsoft Learn website.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_mslearn_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2614,"children":2615},{},[2616,2618,2625,2627,2634],{"type":420,"value":2617},"So far from what I told you, Microsoft Learn does not make the difference compared to other learning platforms. Yes, the content is of high quality overall, yes you can track your progress with knowledge checks and achievements (points, badges, and trophies) however apart from courses being authored by Microsoft all that is what most learning websites already offer. In fact, where Microsoft Learn shines is that it's a platform where you learn by doing. Text and videos are still an important part of the learning paths but they are mixed with hands-on tutorials to understand the concepts seen. Most of the time, tutorials have a context that illustrates a business or technical scenario that could happen in real life, it's not applying something just to apply something. Moreover, the tutorials often involve interactive code editing or manipulating Azure resources in Azure Cloud Shell (if you don't know what it is I mention it ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2619,"children":2622},{"href":2620,"rel":2621},"https://www.techwatching.dev/posts/welcome-azure-cli",[427],[2623],{"type":420,"value":2624},"in this article",{"type":420,"value":2626},"), all that directly available from the browser which I think is awesome. One thing I have not told you yet is that Microsoft Learn is completely free. It goes beyond that, the platform allows you to have access during a limited time to a free cloud subscription (they call it a \"Learn Sandbox\") to create and manage Azure resources you use in the tutorials: it saves you from paying the resources through your subscription or impacting an existing subscription. If you want to learn more about these great features you can read this ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2628,"children":2631},{"href":2629,"rel":2630},"https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/teamblog/microsoft-learn-tour",[427],[2632],{"type":420,"value":2633},"post",{"type":420,"value":723},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2636,"children":2637},{},[2638],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2639,"children":2643},{"alt":2640,"className":2641,"src":2642},"An Azure tutorial on Microsoft Learn.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_mslearn_2.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2645,"children":2646},{},[2647],{"type":420,"value":2648},"I would not say that Microsoft Learn is perfect, no learning platform is and there are always things to improve. For instance, I think in some areas there are not enough advanced modules. Indeed sometimes we already know the basics of a technology but we need a learning path that teachzq us more advanced concepts about it and deep dive into it. And a thing I find unfortunate is that Microsoft Learn is not (yet?) open source, which means there is no way to contribute to a course or directly make a pull request to correct a mistake or a typing error. However, it is definitely a platform I suggest you try especially if you are working with Microsoft technologies.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2650,"children":2652},{"id":2651},"what-else",[2653],{"type":420,"value":2654},"What else ?",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2656,"children":2657},{},[2658],{"type":420,"value":2659},"Of course, there surely are a lot of other awesome learning platforms but these are the ones I use and like. Let me know what are the ones you like in the comments 😃! By the way, the book publishers I spoke of earlier often have their learning platform with offers combining books and online training. I did not try them myself but they should have interesting content. Anyway, the platform itself does not matter much, what matters is that it allows you to improve your skills.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":2661,"children":2663},{"id":2662},"summary",[2664],{"type":420,"value":2665},"Summary",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2667,"children":2668},{},[2669],{"type":420,"value":2670},"In this second article of this blog post series about technology watch, I talked about where and how you can learn new things in IT. We saw you can read documentation and books, watch videos, listen to podcasts and use learning platforms. This is of course a non-exhaustive list of ways to learn but that is a good beginning.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2672,"children":2673},{},[2674],{"type":420,"value":2675},"In the next article of this series, we will see what does it mean to be part of the community of developers and what it can bring to you in your technology watch.",{"title":401,"searchDepth":971,"depth":971,"links":2677},[2678,2682,2688,2689,2696],{"id":2073,"depth":971,"text":2076,"children":2679},[2680,2681],{"id":2084,"depth":1427,"text":2087},{"id":2168,"depth":1427,"text":2171},{"id":2272,"depth":971,"text":2275,"children":2683},[2684,2685,2686,2687],{"id":2283,"depth":1427,"text":2286},{"id":2343,"depth":1427,"text":2346},{"id":2372,"depth":1427,"text":2375},{"id":2392,"depth":1427,"text":2395},{"id":2403,"depth":971,"text":2406},{"id":2428,"depth":971,"text":2431,"children":2690},[2691,2692,2693,2694,2695],{"id":2434,"depth":1427,"text":2437},{"id":2472,"depth":1427,"text":2475},{"id":2501,"depth":1427,"text":2504},{"id":2555,"depth":1427,"text":2558},{"id":2651,"depth":1427,"text":2654},{"id":2662,"depth":971,"text":2665},"content:1.posts:9.technology-watch-part2.md","1.posts/9.technology-watch-part2.md",{"_path":31,"_dir":399,"_draft":400,"_partial":400,"_locale":401,"title":30,"description":2700,"lead":2701,"date":2702,"image":2703,"badge":2705,"tags":2706,"body":2707,"_type":979,"_id":3425,"_source":981,"_file":3426,"_extension":983},"Exploring essential technology watch strategies for developers, including leveraging blogs, microblogging platforms, and community engagement","Starting your journey with blogs and bloggings/microblogging platforms.","2020-09-16T00:00:00.000Z",{"src":2704},"/images/library_1.jpg",{"label":408},[254],{"type":412,"children":2708,"toc":3411},[2709,2713,2741,2747,2752,2757,2766,2771,2777,2782,2788,2793,2839,2848,2853,2858,2864,2869,2883,2892,2897,2910,2916,2921,2960,2969,2974,3037,3042,3075,3097,3103,3108,3114,3134,3143,3155,3192,3197,3203,3208,3217,3222,3262,3268,3281,3290,3295,3361,3366,3371,3379,3384,3389,3393,3398],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2710,"children":2711},{},[2712],{"type":420,"value":1434},{"type":415,"tag":1448,"props":2714,"children":2715},{},[2716,2725,2733],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2717,"children":2718},{},[2719,2724],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2720,"children":2722},{"href":1456,"rel":2721},[427],[2723],{"type":420,"value":1460},{"type":420,"value":1481},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2726,"children":2727},{},[2728],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2729,"children":2731},{"href":2053,"rel":2730},[427],[2732],{"type":420,"value":2448},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2734,"children":2735},{},[2736],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2737,"children":2739},{"href":1476,"rel":2738},[427],[2740],{"type":420,"value":1435},{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":2742,"children":2744},{"id":2743},"about-technology-watch-in-it",[2745],{"type":420,"value":2746},"About technology watch in IT",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2748,"children":2749},{},[2750],{"type":420,"value":2751},"Everyone agrees that in Information Technology, where everything is evolving rapidly, doing some technology watch is very important. It's especially true for the job of developer which involves using fast-moving frameworks/libraries, trying new cloud components/tools, and keeping up to date with new programming language features/new languages...",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2753,"children":2754},{},[2755],{"type":420,"value":2756},"Often what you learn about a technology (whether it be reading a blog post, watching a video, or listening to a podcast) will change how you will tackle your next project and the technology choices you will make. That's why doing a technology watch is so important as it helps you always improving and succeeding in your next development projects. Even when working in a specific technology/environment, we always have something new to learn as everything keeps changing. I particularly like this quote from Einstein \"The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know\", it's exactly that with technology watch in software development: it's a journey that never ends.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2758,"children":2759},{},[2760],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2761,"children":2765},{"alt":2762,"className":2763,"src":2764},"A train track in the middle of a forest",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_journey.jpg",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2767,"children":2768},{},[2769],{"type":420,"value":2770},"⏲ However finding the time to do a technology watch is not easy and not every IT company is ready to let their employees have some time for it (even if it could be profitable for the company in the end). Therefore it is something we often have to do in our spare time and it is not always easy to know where to start a technology watch and how to do it, hence this blog post series. The aim is to share with you different ways of learning new things in development, stay up to date with the latest IT news in your tech area, and how I do my technology watch. As my technology watch is mainly about .NET and Microsoft technologies this will be the opportunity to also share some sources and platforms especially interesting for .NET developers.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":2772,"children":2774},{"id":2773},"blogs-posts",[2775],{"type":420,"value":2776},"Blogs posts",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2778,"children":2779},{},[2780],{"type":420,"value":2781},"A great way to learn is to learn from others so reading blog posts from people sharing their experiences can be a good start to do a technology watch.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2783,"children":2785},{"id":2784},"choose-which-blogs-to-read",[2786],{"type":420,"value":2787},"Choose which blogs to read",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2789,"children":2790},{},[2791],{"type":420,"value":2792},"If you have been a developer for a few years, you probably already have come across many interesting blogs when looking for the answer to an issue you had or more information on a specific topic. Some of these blogs might even come back frequently in your searches if the author works in the same field you work. These are the blogs you should follow and from which you should read articles because it's likely where you will find interesting articles for you.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2794,"children":2795},{},[2796,2798,2805,2806,2813,2814,2821,2822,2829,2831,2837],{"type":420,"value":2797},"Often, tools or frameworks have an official blog so it might be a good idea to follow blogs from the ones you use. For example, Microsoft have a lot of great dev blogs like ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2799,"children":2802},{"href":2800,"rel":2801},"https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/",[427],[2803],{"type":420,"value":2804},".NET Blog",{"type":420,"value":1964},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2807,"children":2810},{"href":2808,"rel":2809},"https://devblogs.microsoft.com/aspnet/",[427],[2811],{"type":420,"value":2812},"ASP.NET Blog",{"type":420,"value":1964},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2815,"children":2818},{"href":2816,"rel":2817},"https://devblogs.microsoft.com/xamarin/",[427],[2819],{"type":420,"value":2820},"Xamarin Blog",{"type":420,"value":1964},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2823,"children":2826},{"href":2824,"rel":2825},"https://devblogs.microsoft.com/devops/",[427],[2827],{"type":420,"value":2828},"Azure DevOps Blog",{"type":420,"value":2830}," (you can find the complete list ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2832,"children":2835},{"href":2833,"rel":2834},"https://devblogs.microsoft.com/",[427],[2836],{"type":420,"value":1358},{"type":420,"value":2838},")",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2840,"children":2841},{},[2842],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2843,"children":2847},{"alt":2844,"className":2845,"src":2846},"Microsoft Developer Blogs' banner.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_blogs_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2849,"children":2850},{},[2851],{"type":420,"value":2852},"Yet, I don't think that there is a must-read list of blogs that you should only read articles from, not even a list by tech stack. Because every blog author writes differently you have to find blogs that best suit what you like, both in the topics and in the format of the articles. Maybe you like to read short blog posts that just give you a high-level view of a techno or maybe on the contrary you like to read long blog posts that deep dive into a technology. It's really up to you to find what kind of articles you like to read, which blogs can make difficult frameworks/concepts to become crystal clear, and which blog authors have a writing style that appeals to you.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2854,"children":2855},{},[2856],{"type":420,"value":2857},"In a nutshell read blogs that you will enjoy reading because there is no point in making yourself read things just to learn something: learning should always be a pleasure ✨.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2859,"children":2861},{"id":2860},"use-an-rss-feed-reader",[2862],{"type":420,"value":2863},"Use an RSS feed reader",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2865,"children":2866},{},[2867],{"type":420,"value":2868},"Once you have your custom list of blogs that you want to read articles from, you should use an RSS feed reader. Of course, you can always bookmark the blogs and from time to time check if a new article has been published but honestly, that is a loss of time. Most blogs, if not all, have an RSS feed so you just have to add blogs your want to follow in your favorite RSS feed reader to keep up with new articles as they are published.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2870,"children":2871},{},[2872,2874,2881],{"type":420,"value":2873},"I personally use ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2875,"children":2878},{"href":2876,"rel":2877},"https://feedly.com/",[427],[2879],{"type":420,"value":2880},"Feedly",{"type":420,"value":2882}," but there are many other nice RSS feed readers. I let you do your comparison about the different RSS feed readers that exist.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2884,"children":2885},{},[2886],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2887,"children":2891},{"alt":2888,"className":2889,"src":2890},"Feedly screenshots with different RSS feeds displayed.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_feedly_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2893,"children":2894},{},[2895],{"type":420,"value":2896},"As you can see on the screenshot of my Feedly account I try to regroup blogs by topic like \"Database\", \"DevOps\", \"Xamarin\" when I can, even if it's not accurate because blogs are rarely about one subject only. There are surely better ways to organize all that or nice Feedly features that I should use but this has been working for me until now so I keep it that way for the moment. I am using the free version of Feedly and that's enough for me, even if I could benefit from some of their paid features like following Twitter feeds or hiding sponsored ads (not that much annoying as there are not that many ads but it would be better without).",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2898,"children":2899},{},[2900,2902,2908],{"type":420,"value":2901},"An RSS feed reader is a very useful way to aggregate a curated list of articles that you could be interested in but that doesn't mean you should read every single article that appears in your feed. Filtering articles to read is important as I guess your time is limited and even if you selected carefully which blogs to follow you won't be interested in all their articles. For instance, I recently started to use Pulumi for Infrastructure as Code so I added their ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2903,"children":2906},{"href":2904,"rel":2905},"https://www.pulumi.com/blog/",[427],[2907],{"type":420,"value":1140},{"type":420,"value":2909}," in my blogs list to know about future features and updates to Pulumi. That does not mean I will read every post from their blog but at least I will be notified when they publish a new article and have less risk of missing a piece of news (like a new version). That's for me the principal advantage of an RSS feed reader: staying informed.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":2911,"children":2913},{"id":2912},"a-few-rss-feeds-i-like",[2914],{"type":420,"value":2915},"A few RSS feeds I like",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2917,"children":2918},{},[2919],{"type":420,"value":2920},"I won't tell you all the RSS feeds I am following because it would be quite long and boring but I still want to share a few of them.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2922,"children":2923},{},[2924,2926,2933,2934,2941,2943,2950,2952,2958],{"type":420,"value":2925},"In the .NET world, apart from Microsoft official blogs, ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2927,"children":2930},{"href":2928,"rel":2929},"https://www.infoq.com/fr/dotnet/articles/",[427],[2931],{"type":420,"value":2932},"InfoQ - .NET",{"type":420,"value":706},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2935,"children":2938},{"href":2936,"rel":2937},"https://www.dotnetcurry.com/",[427],[2939],{"type":420,"value":2940},".NET Curry",{"type":420,"value":2942}," are two nice RSS feeds to follow. There are not individual blogs but websites about development with different writers and very interesting content. Another one is ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2944,"children":2947},{"href":2945,"rel":2946},"https://discoverdot.net/",[427],[2948],{"type":420,"value":2949},"Discover .NET",{"type":420,"value":2951}," which is not a blog but a website built by Dave Glick (the author of ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2953,"children":2956},{"href":2954,"rel":2955},"https://statiq.dev/",[427],[2957],{"type":420,"value":331},{"type":420,"value":2959},") that keeps track of .NET open source and community resources, hence it contains many links to .NET articles from other websites.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2961,"children":2962},{},[2963],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":2964,"children":2968},{"alt":2965,"className":2966,"src":2967},"Discover .NET banner.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_discoverdotnet.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":2970,"children":2971},{},[2972],{"type":420,"value":2973},"Among the individual blogs, here are some I particularly like:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":2975,"children":2976},{},[2977,2989,3001,3013,3025],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2978,"children":2979},{},[2980,2987],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2981,"children":2984},{"href":2982,"rel":2983},"https://www.stevejgordon.co.uk/",[427],[2985],{"type":420,"value":2986},"Steve Gordon's blog",{"type":420,"value":2988},": very well-written articles that deep dive into ASP.NET Core, .NET Core, C# ...",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":2990,"children":2991},{},[2992,2999],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":2993,"children":2996},{"href":2994,"rel":2995},"https://markheath.net/",[427],[2997],{"type":420,"value":2998},"Mark Heath's blog",{"type":420,"value":3000},": one of my favorite blog for Azure Functions (and especially Durable Functions) posts, other posts are great too",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3002,"children":3003},{},[3004,3011],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3005,"children":3008},{"href":3006,"rel":3007},"https://andrewlock.net/",[427],[3009],{"type":420,"value":3010},"Andrew Lock's blog",{"type":420,"value":3012},": another great blog about ASP.NET Core",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3014,"children":3015},{},[3016,3023],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3017,"children":3020},{"href":3018,"rel":3019},"https://codemilltech.com/",[427],[3021],{"type":420,"value":3022},"Matthew Soucoup's blog",{"type":420,"value":3024},": the place to go to understand Azure AD and Microsoft Identity among other articles about Xamarin, Azure ...",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3026,"children":3027},{},[3028,3035],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3029,"children":3032},{"href":3030,"rel":3031},"https://www.hanselman.com/blog/",[427],[3033],{"type":420,"value":3034},"Scott Hanselman's blog",{"type":420,"value":3036},": so much great content here whether it be about a new tool, framework, library, or thoughts about IT",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3038,"children":3039},{},[3040],{"type":420,"value":3041},"And finally, there are 3 blogs/websites that publish every day a collection of links of interesting articles about .NET and other things (they also appear in Discover .NET RSS feed):",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":3043,"children":3044},{},[3045,3055,3065],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3046,"children":3047},{},[3048],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3049,"children":3052},{"href":3050,"rel":3051},"http://blog.cwa.me.uk/",[427],[3053],{"type":420,"value":3054},"The Morning Brew",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3056,"children":3057},{},[3058],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3059,"children":3062},{"href":3060,"rel":3061},"https://links.danrigby.com/",[427],[3063],{"type":420,"value":3064},".NET App Developer Links",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3066,"children":3067},{},[3068],{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3069,"children":3072},{"href":3070,"rel":3071},"https://www.alvinashcraft.com/",[427],[3073],{"type":420,"value":3074},"Dew Drop",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3076,"children":3077},{},[3078,3080,3087,3088,3095],{"type":420,"value":3079},"Another way to read interesting blog posts is to find them on platforms like ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3081,"children":3084},{"href":3082,"rel":3083},"https://medium.com/",[427],[3085],{"type":420,"value":3086},"Medium",{"type":420,"value":1727},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3089,"children":3092},{"href":3090,"rel":3091},"https://dev.to/",[427],[3093],{"type":420,"value":3094},"DEV",{"type":420,"value":3096}," which brings us to another way to do a technology watch: using blogging and micro blogging platforms.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":3098,"children":3100},{"id":3099},"blogging-and-microblogging-platforms",[3101],{"type":420,"value":3102},"Blogging and microblogging platforms",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3104,"children":3105},{},[3106],{"type":420,"value":3107},"Reading blog posts is great but it takes time and sometimes lacks interactivity especially when a blog does not contain a comments/discussions section above each article. Blogging should not be a one-way conversation but a community discussion.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":3109,"children":3111},{"id":3110},"give-a-try-to-blogging-platforms",[3112],{"type":420,"value":3113},"Give a try to blogging platforms",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3115,"children":3116},{},[3117,3119,3125,3127,3132],{"type":420,"value":3118},"What I want to talk about is not platforms that help you create your own blog/website like ",{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":3120,"children":3122},{"className":3121},[],[3123],{"type":420,"value":3124},"WordPress",{"type":420,"value":3126}," but social platforms where everyone can publish articles, read and comment articles, follow an author or a topic, and discuss with other users. There are many of these platforms, you may have heard of  ",{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":3128,"children":3130},{"className":3129},[],[3131],{"type":420,"value":3086},{"type":420,"value":3133}," which is pretty popular but which requires you to pay if you want unlimited access to articles (without a paywall once you have read too many articles) and whose content is not only about IT.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3135,"children":3136},{},[3137],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":3138,"children":3142},{"alt":3139,"className":3140,"src":3141},"Dev.to banner.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_dev.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3144,"children":3145},{},[3146,3148,3153],{"type":420,"value":3147},"The blogging platform I use and like is ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3149,"children":3151},{"href":3090,"rel":3150},[427],[3152],{"type":420,"value":3094},{"type":420,"value":3154}," which is an open source community for developers. Great content in there and a nice place to follow topics/people and interact with other developers. It's also quite easy to post content although as many people say: it's better to write on your own blog rather than to publish content on platforms that do not belong to you. If you want to publish content on a blogging platform I suggest you:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":3156,"children":3157},{},[3158,3163,3174,3187],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3159,"children":3160},{},[3161],{"type":420,"value":3162},"Write the articles on your personal blog on a domain you own",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3164,"children":3165},{},[3166,3168,3173],{"type":420,"value":3167},"Import some articles from your blog into that platform (really easy to do on ",{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":3169,"children":3171},{"className":3170},[],[3172],{"type":420,"value":3094},{"type":420,"value":2838},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3175,"children":3176},{},[3177,3179,3185],{"type":420,"value":3178},"Don't forget to set the ",{"type":415,"tag":1513,"props":3180,"children":3182},{"className":3181},[],[3183],{"type":420,"value":3184},"canonical_url",{"type":420,"value":3186}," that will indicate to search engines that your articles are not duplicated content and were originally published on your blog",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3188,"children":3189},{},[3190],{"type":420,"value":3191},"Publish the imported articles on the platform",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3193,"children":3194},{},[3195],{"type":420,"value":3196},"That's what I do and this is a great way to reach a larger audience while attracting some traffic to your blog if readers want want to read more of your articles.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":3198,"children":3200},{"id":3199},"what-about-microblogging",[3201],{"type":420,"value":3202},"What about microblogging?",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3204,"children":3205},{},[3206],{"type":420,"value":3207},"According to Wikipedia:",{"type":415,"tag":3209,"props":3210,"children":3211},"blockquote",{},[3212],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3213,"children":3214},{},[3215],{"type":420,"value":3216},"Microblogging is an online broadcast medium that exists as a specific form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregated file size.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3218,"children":3219},{},[3220],{"type":420,"value":3221},"Hence, Microblogging is not about long articles but small posts or short messages that aim at engaging with an audience. It solves the issue I was talking about earlier of lack of interactivity for traditional blogs. In a microblogging platform, you can directly comment and react to something someone you follow has just said. It's nice to quickly learn some tips and tricks in a programming language, hear about a techno that was just released, and exchange ideas with other developers.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3223,"children":3224},{},[3225,3227,3234,3235,3242,3244,3251,3253,3260],{"type":420,"value":3226},"Lots of microblogging platforms exist like ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3228,"children":3231},{"href":3229,"rel":3230},"https://twitter.com",[427],[3232],{"type":420,"value":3233},"Twitter",{"type":420,"value":1964},{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3236,"children":3239},{"href":3237,"rel":3238},"https://www.tumblr.com/",[427],[3240],{"type":420,"value":3241},"Tumblr",{"type":420,"value":3243}," and even ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3245,"children":3248},{"href":3246,"rel":3247},"https://www.linkedin.com/",[427],[3249],{"type":420,"value":3250},"LinkedIn",{"type":420,"value":3252},". I don't know if ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3254,"children":3257},{"href":3255,"rel":3256},"https://www.reddit.com/",[427],[3258],{"type":420,"value":3259},"Reddit",{"type":420,"value":3261}," can be considered as a microblogging platform too as it is more a collection of forums but it's worth mentioning it because it's pretty popular among developers. As far as I am concerned the only one I use for my technology watch is Twitter so this is the only one I can speak about.",{"type":415,"tag":1073,"props":3263,"children":3265},{"id":3264},"twitter-the-place-to-be-to-follow-it-content",[3266],{"type":420,"value":3267},"Twitter: the place to be to follow IT content",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3269,"children":3270},{},[3271,3273,3280],{"type":420,"value":3272},"Because Twitter is one of the most famous microblogging platforms, you probably know it and may even already be a user. What you might not realize is how useful such a platform can be to watch technology content. Lots of people and organizations are on Twitter so you can use it to follow a lot of things but I use it almost exclusively to follow IT content. If you are not yet on Twitter or another microblogging platform you can create a Twitter account just for your technology watch which is what I did: ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3274,"children":3277},{"href":3275,"rel":3276},"https://twitter.com/techwatching",[427],[3278],{"type":420,"value":3279},"@techwatching",{"type":420,"value":723},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3282,"children":3283},{},[3284],{"type":415,"tag":587,"props":3285,"children":3289},{"alt":3286,"className":3287,"src":3288},"Twitter website.",[591,592],"/posts/images/techwatch_twitter_1.png",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3291,"children":3292},{},[3293],{"type":420,"value":3294},"When I said previously to follow blogs of technologies (tools, programming languages, frameworks...) you use and people you like to read, the same goes for Twitter accounts to follow:",{"type":415,"tag":454,"props":3296,"children":3297},{},[3298,3312,3324,3345,3356],{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3299,"children":3300},{},[3301,3303,3310],{"type":420,"value":3302},"if you regularly develop Azure Functions follow their ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3304,"children":3307},{"href":3305,"rel":3306},"https://twitter.com/AzureFunctions",[427],[3308],{"type":420,"value":3309},"Twitter account",{"type":420,"value":3311}," to get the latest news and interesting links",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3313,"children":3314},{},[3315,3317],{"type":420,"value":3316},"if you are a .NET developer, follow the ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3318,"children":3321},{"href":3319,"rel":3320},"https://twitter.com/dotnet",[427],[3322],{"type":420,"value":3323},".NET Twitter account",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3325,"children":3326},{},[3327,3329,3335,3337,3343],{"type":420,"value":3328},"if you are fond of the new cross-platform shell called ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3330,"children":3333},{"href":3331,"rel":3332},"http://www.nushell.sh/",[427],[3334],{"type":420,"value":243},{"type":420,"value":3336},", go check their ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3338,"children":3341},{"href":3339,"rel":3340},"https://twitter.com/nu_shell",[427],[3342],{"type":420,"value":3309},{"type":420,"value":3344}," to see what's new (and seriously you should 😉)",{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3346,"children":3347},{},[3348,3350],{"type":420,"value":3349},"if you like reading David Fowler's posts, read his tweets by following him on ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3351,"children":3354},{"href":3352,"rel":3353},"https://twitter.com/davidfowl",[427],[3355],{"type":420,"value":3233},{"type":415,"tag":458,"props":3357,"children":3358},{},[3359],{"type":420,"value":3360},"...",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3362,"children":3363},{},[3364],{"type":420,"value":3365},"These are some personal examples but there are so many people on Twitter from who we can learn. If like me you are mainly working on Microsoft technologies, you won't have trouble finding on Twitter Microsoft employees, Microsoft MVP, and Microsoft technologies users that have interesting things to say and share (and the same applies for any other stack). You only have to follow them and from time to time have a look at your feed to see what they are posting.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3367,"children":3368},{},[3369],{"type":420,"value":3370},"One thing to note is when you follow someone on Twitter, you follow a whole person. I sometimes see people complaining that IT people they follow on Twitter are sharing content unrelated to IT whether it be hobbies, personal thoughts, or opinions about what happens in the world (politics, culture, society, ...). You have to realize that behind a Twitter account (not an organizational one) there is a real person with its tastes, beliefs, and emotions. A Twitter account is not a robot that is publishing IT content for you to do your technology watch so be kind and respect that. If you don't like or don't agree with some tweets, just keep scrolling, or if it bothers you unfollow the accounts but don't ask them to change who they are.",{"type":415,"tag":1923,"props":3372,"children":3374},{"className":3373},[1926,1928],[3375],{"type":415,"tag":1935,"props":3376,"children":3378},{"id":3377},"1269069589893115904",[],{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3380,"children":3381},{},[3382],{"type":420,"value":3383},"Tweets are small so it's not like reading an entire blog post even if to be honest it can sometimes be time-consuming. Yet, this is something you can do discontinuously when you have a moment, the same way you would read Google or Bing News in public transportations. And you don't have to (and must not) read every single tweet from every Twitter account you follow, simply browse your Twitter feed, an stop for reading the tweets that caught your eyes. You can also categorize the accounts you follow using Twitter lists (one list by category/techno) and browse their corresponding feed but I find it easier to read tweets on one big feed.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3385,"children":3386},{},[3387],{"type":420,"value":3388},"Like every social platform, Twitter is good at allowing people to interact with each other. People may not respond to you because they did not see your tweet/comment among all the others or because they did not have the time, yet in theory, you can publicly talk to anyone. This allows you to reach people you could not have otherwise, share ideas and sometimes get help from kind and skilled people on a specific topic. As long as you don't complain all the time and harass people with questions you are good to go 😉.",{"type":415,"tag":434,"props":3390,"children":3391},{"id":2662},[3392],{"type":420,"value":2665},{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3394,"children":3395},{},[3396],{"type":420,"value":3397},"In this first article of this blog post series about technology watch, I talked about how to start your technology watch by reading blog articles and interacting with others on blogging and microblogging platforms. We saw how to choose the blogs and accounts to follow on websites like DEV or Twitter and we saw that using an RSS feed reader is important to keep up with latest blog articles.",{"type":415,"tag":416,"props":3399,"children":3400},{},[3401,3403,3409],{"type":420,"value":3402},"In the ",{"type":415,"tag":423,"props":3404,"children":3406},{"href":2053,"rel":3405},[427],[3407],{"type":420,"value":3408},"next article",{"type":420,"value":3410}," of this series, we will see where we can learn new things as part of our technology watch.",{"title":401,"searchDepth":971,"depth":971,"links":3412},[3413,3414,3419,3424],{"id":2743,"depth":971,"text":2746},{"id":2773,"depth":971,"text":2776,"children":3415},[3416,3417,3418],{"id":2784,"depth":1427,"text":2787},{"id":2860,"depth":1427,"text":2863},{"id":2912,"depth":1427,"text":2915},{"id":3099,"depth":971,"text":3102,"children":3420},[3421,3422,3423],{"id":3110,"depth":1427,"text":3113},{"id":3199,"depth":1427,"text":3202},{"id":3264,"depth":1427,"text":3267},{"id":2662,"depth":971,"text":2665},"content:1.posts:8.technology-watch-part1.md","1.posts/8.technology-watch-part1.md",1716749600636]