Mar 25, 2025

While some engineers believe that getting their hands dirty is the best way to evolve, others combine hands-on experience with helpful resources to continuously refine their technical acumen. Photo: Shutterstock Software engineering is constantly changing, spurred by advances in AI and the continuous evolution of languages, frameworks and tools. So how do engineers keep up? In Tuan Pham’s case, it’s simply a matter of getting his hands dirty, whether that involves digging into API documentation or experimenting with code. “For me, keeping my engineering skills sharp comes down to the simple joy of building software and solving problems,” the principal software engineer at Sisense said. While diving into the technical weeds is beneficial for any engineer, some put aside time to garner knowledge from outside resources. For instance, Swati Murugappan, a software engineer analyst at MarketAxess , reads newsletters from Morning Brew and TLDR Web Dev to stay up to date on the most recent changes in the tech industry. “Both of these newsletters have eye-catching headers and short descriptions, with the option to click on articles and read more,” she said. “It’s a ‘choose your focus for a day’ adventure rather than an information dump, which I think makes it much easier to grasp tech news and trends.” At Altana , Senior Software Engineer Nastasia Efremkina also engages frequently with outside resources, with two of her favorites being the Changelog podcast and Pragmatic Engineer newsletter. But besides that, she feels as though the people she gets to work alongside each day have become one of her greatest sources of growth. “Altana’s talent is incredible, and I’m constantly learning from colleagues, both in engineering and in broader fields,” Efremkina said. Below, Pham, Murugappan and Efremkina share more about how they keep their engineering skills sharp and how the culture at their companies on their teams empowers them to continuously grow. Senior Software Engineer  • Altana Altana ’s value chain management system helps organizations take command of their extended supplier and distribution networks, offering visibility, AI-powered insights and collaborative workflows. Give us a snapshot of what you do to stay on top of your engineering knowledge and skills. I love learning in many different ways. For general knowledge and exposure, I enjoy listening to podcasts, and then I often dive deeper with books or long-form articles. If there’s cool tech or a library I want to explore, I’ll spend an afternoon building a mini project to get hands-on experience. To stay updated on the latest trends, I usually listen to podcasts and read articles and substacks. My favorites are the Changelog podcast and Pragmatic Engineer newsletter. They provide me with the high-level key insights and trends that I then explore further in my own free time — and generally not after a long day of work. I’ll try that every month. I try to allocate a day or so on the weekend, and otherwise it’s what washes over me through podcasts and reading up on articles. “If there’s cool tech or a library I want to explore, I’ll spend an afternoon building a mini project to get hands-on experience.” What are your go-to resources for keeping your engineering skills sharp? My job! A huge perk of Altana is that there are so many interesting engineering problems to solve, and I’m often being challenged with both the scale and complexity of the problems — within reason, of course. We have several Slack channels where there is also a good amount of space to explore what’s the latest and greatest in the engineering world. What does the learning culture look like at Altana? Altana really promotes learning in so many ways. Altana provides a professional stipend to invest in our own personal growth, but the greatest wealth of the learning culture is centered around my coworkers. Altana’s talent is incredible, and I’m constantly learning from colleagues, both in engineering and in broader fields. The likelihood that a coworker you’re speaking with has a doctorate in their area of expertise is high, but what’s even more remarkable is how down-to-earth and collaborative everyone is, even though they’re the smartest people I’ve ever worked with. Software Engineer Analyst  • MarketAxess MarketAxess offers a fixed-income trading platform, which is designed to enhance trading efficiency, provide access to a diverse pool of liquidity and deliver cost savings to institutional investors and broker-dealers. Give us a snapshot of what you do to stay on top of your engineering knowledge and skills. One of the most important things about engineering to me, and certainly one of the most exciting things, is to be curious. As a junior developer, I’m always surrounded by new and evolving tech and am constantly reminded that all problems can be solved when broken down step by step. I love to learn about emerging technologies, sometimes even from friends or teammates. And I find it enjoyable spending time reading through documentation as the various software I know get updated. It’s always daunting to start learning a new technology-related concept, be that a new programming language, hardware or build tools. But a key focus is to have a roadmap to gain a broad understanding of what something is and go deeper by learning about specific uses or functionalities. My monthly goal is to dedicate a small amount of time, sometimes just an hour or two a week, to learning about software used often on my team here at MarketAxess. These range from courses on Udemy and understanding build processes to learning about dependencies from external libraries. On a daily basis, I like high-level, bite-sized information. On a weekly basis, I take in denser information and digest it slowly. What are your go-to resources for keeping your engineering skills sharp? I like to utilize resources that bring information right to my inbox. The daily newsletters from Morning Brew are easily digestible pieces that keep me updated on tech as well as finance and world news, all of which not only interest me but are relevant to my work. TLDR Web Dev is also a great tool. I enjoy their news and tutorials on front-end web development, especially as the field evolves and new libraries come up as others go dormant. I have had an interest in front-end web development for a while and love learning about it this way. Both of these newsletters have eye-catching headers and short descriptions, with the option to click on articles and read more. It’s a “choose your focus for a day” adventure rather than an information dump, which I think makes it much easier to grasp tech news and trends. To learn new technologies, I’ve found Udemy a great starting place to understand concepts generally, and YouTube tutorials help me create sandboxes and see how the code works on my own machine. I grew up loving word games and brain teasers, and there are new code game platforms and exercises released often, so I find it necessary to gamify learning when and wherever possible to keep it fresh and fun. “I grew up loving word games and brain teasers, and there are new code game platforms and exercises released often, so I find it necessary to gamify learning when and wherever possible to keep it fresh and fun.” What does the learning culture look like on your engineering team? Almost all engineers will say that the most learning you do will be on the job, so it’s important to have a mindset of flexibility and an ability to learn while working on tasks, as opposed to finishing a full course and then settling into work. Having a knowledge base is always handy, so spending just a few hours or a day or two understanding what a certain technology does can make a world of a difference before setting it up and starting work. From there, much of the learning becomes hands-on, with a big emphasis on shadowing and pair-coding to help with knowledge transfer from seniors to juniors. I find it essential to take notes and clarify tasks in as much detail as possible. But I’ve also learned to expect the unexpected. Sometimes, things simply do not function in the ways we expect, and unexpected dependencies get impacted. It’s part of the learning process to fail early — and fail often. We frequently have innovation and planning sprints, which are sprints set aside for developers to dedicate time to learning, so I always keep a list of code bases and topics to explore during those times. Principal Software Engineer  • Sisense Sisense ’s analytics platform is designed to help organizations make more informed business decisions, enabling teams to analyze and explore valuable insights. Give us a snapshot of what you do to stay on top of your engineering knowledge and skills. Modern software engineering moves quickly — sometimes, too quickly. With so much information available, staying on top of it is both an advantage and a challenge. I feel this, too. My approach is to focus on hands-on, targeted learning, using real problems as opportunities to deepen my understanding. Watching the road from the passenger seat doesn’t cut it; I take the driver’s seat when coding solutions, reinforcing concepts through direct experience. Just as important is managing complexity across different levels of abstraction — knowing when to zoom in on the details and when to step back to see the bigger picture. More often than not, code is still the answer. What are your go-to resources for keeping your engineering skills sharp? For me, keeping my engineering skills sharp comes down to the simple joy of building software and solving problems. I learn best by getting my hands dirty — digging into API documentation, experimenting with code, pulling my hair out when errors crop up, joyfully seeing the code build and run, writing my own notes, and repeating the process. Searching effectively is just as important, whether it’s debugging an issue or learning from open-source libraries. I often skim changelogs, browse GitHub issues and discussions, and chat with AI models to explore different perspectives. And when something doesn’t add up, I don’t mind diving into an open-source library’s internals to figure it out myself. “I often skim changelogs, browse GitHub issues and discussions, and chat with AI models to explore different perspectives.” What does the learning culture look like on your engineering team? At Sisense, my engineering team is fortunate to work with cutting-edge technologies, building open-source developer tools for embedded analytics. This creates numerous opportunities for growth and learning. We prioritize keeping our libraries up-to-date, secure and developer-friendly, which drives us to continuously improve our code and processes. What I appreciate most is our disruptor mindset — constantly questioning, experimenting and pushing boundaries. This approach, paired with open collaboration, keeps us ahead of trends and fosters continuous growth. I also learn a lot from my talented colleagues. Through code reviews, design discussions and knowledge-sharing sessions, I get to see different approaches and perspectives. These interactions are invaluable in helping me improve and expand how I approach problems.