How YouTube is Powering Up Computer Science Education
Konstantin Borimechkov
Senior Software Engineer at Tide | Intern To Senior In 3 Years ??
I mean, don’t tell me that you haven’t used YouTube to learn at least something in the field of computer science & software engineering.. ??
We’ve all done it. I bring this up, because it showcases the power of this platform in software world. It’s quite mind-blowing when you think of the impact it has on the industry! ??
In today’s article I wanted to go trough how YouTube has helped me and how it can help you to achieve success! ??
Accessibility
One of the biggest PROs of YouTube is that it’s FREE for everyone to use.
With that, the limitations become very little, as the only thing you need to use YouTube is to have Internet!
Of course they do have their paid-tier (which I do pay for), which includes it’s benefits like No-Ads, YouTube Music, Video Downloading & Listening w/h your phone being off. ?? I personally love it and would honestly pay for YouTube if it was in general a paid-service!
Quality Of Content
You can view the most stupid things on YouTube, but you can also watch the biggest people in the industry speak and learn from their experience and advice.
I’ve for sure watched I ton of ‘Day In The Life Of A Software Engineer’ when I started learning and that for sure gave me a motivational boost. (Spoiler Alert: Most of these videos give false impressions about the actual job - more on that in a separate blog ??)
After I learned to filter out the bull*** my feed became full of courses/guides/how-to’s/interviews/podcast and etc.. Content that can actually help you become 1% better each day!
Big Names With Lots Of Advice & Information
YouTube allows many people with substantial knowledge and experience to share them on the platform! It’s a must to take advantage!
There are many people I listend to on YouTube and later on, I followed them on other platforms like Substack, LinkedIn or other platforms they’re active on.
A perfect example for this is Gergely Orosz , the founder of ‘The Pragmatic Engineer’, who I’ve found on YouTube via this video ?? ?
Later on I followed his newsletter ‘The Pragmatic Engineer’ on Substack and gained an amazing amount of information about tech and career development.
Now, I got his new book & it's an amazing read! Especially for people looking to scale up their career in tech! ?? ??
Another example is Alex Xu , co-founder of ByteByteGo . Their YouTube channels gives very easy to follow videos, covering easy-to-hard technical problems and concepts.
I found them trough a YouTube video on System Design Interviews:
领英推荐
.. and then followed them on LinkedIn and Substack where they give out amazing pieces of content each day via their newsletter!
Many Channels Are Centered Around Programming
There are many others that I’ve followed and still do. It’s very important for us to take leverage of the fact that such amazing people are sharing so much for FREE on YouTube!
Here is a list of some other names I follow ??
… and many many more. I would suggest to follow them and keep a close eye on the content they provide as, in my opinion, it's truly invaluable!
When I looked trough the list, I honestly was surprised with how many people I follow. ?? These are maybe the creator channels, who’s content I keep myself most up to date with.
Problem Solver
Do you have an issue with your Mac setup? Are you struggling to configure your first Spring Boot application? Do you want to build a replica of Netflix’s UI and turn it into a project? Are you curious about the different ways to make money with code? ??
…You get my point. Whatever your question, YouTube has you covered. Not only that, but in most cases, you’ll find many people have answered your question.
This is a massive boost to your troubleshooting and problem-solving abilities. Why is this beneficial? It allows you to experiment with various ideas, which enhances your learning while you solve the issue at hand!
Next time you may not even need YouTube, because you’ve already learned how to solve the problem. Great!
Enjoying OR Self-Improving With YouTube
As you can see there are many benefits and positives that YouTube brings, but at the end of the day it’s up to you to decide whether you’ll use YouTube for good or to just watch pointless videos that bring no value to your life. ??♂
Well, I’m kidding.. to a certain extend. I’ve been on both sides - I’ve watched YouTube just for the sake of bumping my dopamine levels and only with self-improvement purpose.
The truth is, like with almost anything in life - a balance ?? between both needs to be found!
With that, this blog comes to an end! Hope you find it insightful! ??
Who's your favourite creator? Share it in the comments ??
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11 个月I didn't realize some of these people had YouTube channels. Thank you!