We all want to program what we enjoy - else our job gets boring. Loving your job also builds Technical Confidence. Some people just wait, hoping that the perfect project will fall in their lap, but there are things you can do to help your cause:
- Make a list for yourself of what you want to program. If you don't know what you want, no one else will know for you.
- Work little bits of these things into daily features. Perhaps you can demo a new coding technique, framework call, or trick.
- Make an objective business case for it so that it's not "Bob wants to play around with new tech X (wouldn't we all)", but rather "Bob can add value to the team using new Tech X".
- Tell your manager so that they can look out for you. If your manager knows that you're interested in "X", then they can at least try to send that kind of work your way.
- When you get the opportunity to do part of the new tech on something small, nail it.
- Invest your own time (off the clock) to build a prototype of something. You can then show this to management (you're not just some dreamer wasting their time, but a solid contributor with a tangible prototype). It also helps you Continually learning better coding methods, and demonstrates your commitment to management ("Bob did this on his own time, imagine what he could do if we let him do it full time").
tags: style learning
links: digg this technorati
