Technology watch means keeping up with the latest trends and innovations. For a developer, this means staying up to date with the IT sector, finding out which languages are becoming less popular, and discovering new languages that are being used more by developers. This also ensures that developers keep up with best practice in web development. This takes a bit of time, but learning is part of computer programming because technologies evolve quite rapidly. It is a good idea to learn about technology trends throughout your career.

How can you stay up to date with the latest technology ?

Internet is a wonderful thing ! It's full of so many resources and content that we can access for free. The only tricky part is deciding which content formats we should check in regularly. There are so many to choose from !

1. Newsletters : some specialist sites such as Le monde informatique offer newsletters. There are also many developers who share newsletters by programming language or type of programming (back-end or front-end). These can be daily, weekly or monthly. A Google search using the key words ‘developer newsletters’ will give you tips on newsletters to follow as a developer. If this is a format you like, don't hesitate.

2. Blogs and websites : a well-known website like Le blog du modérateur (BDM) is a good source for reading articles about the latest news in digital world in general. There are also online communities of developers who share blog articles : dev community or hasnode.

3. Meetups : these are events that bring together people with a common interest. It can be a shared passion or in a professional context, experts meeting to discuss a particular topic. In tech, there are meetups on data, cybersecurity, coding, AI...

In Paris, I found these interesting meetups depending on the programming language used or talking about tech in general like :

Human Talks Paris : a monthly event for developers.

Ladies of code Paris : bringing together women working in tech. For all curious women who want to learn to code.

Node.JS Paris : for Javascript developers, particularly those using Node.JS.

ReactJS and ReactNative : for developers using the React framework.

ParisRB.new : for developers using Ruby or the Ruby on Rails framework.

4. Take part in a developer competition Every year, Master dev France brings together a large number of developers in Paris. The next edition will take place in 2025. It is a good way to meet experts and to network.

Conclusion

Technology watch is a good practice for web developers. Whether you're back-end or front-end oriented, there will always be something new to know to advance in your career, or just to share with your colleagues.