Category: Productivity

Do you know what is a waste of time?

Searching on Google for the same answer every time you need a code snippet.

Especially when the answer was a few Google Pages deep, or you’ve sorted through a lot of Stack Overflow answers to find it.

Introducing: The Second Brain

This concept was introduced by a guy named Tiago Forte who has developed a very complicated process and sells a really expensive course around it.

But all in all, the idea behind this concept is that you shouldn’t go hunting every time you want to eat.

For example, when you want to create something, build something, or develop some software, you shouldn’t go all the way to Google, Stack Overflow, Documentation, past projects, old GitHub repos, and so on.

Or, search 30 minutes in the documentation because you can’t remember where was that specific use case of that specific function.

But you should have an archive, a place where you have captured all kinds of ideas, all the bits and pieces of tutorials, articles read, videos watched, projects are done, and so on and so forth.

Basically, it’s like having your own Wikipedia that lets you capture content and ideas and lets you find them easily

And this kind of system is perfect for software developers, content creators, authors, bloggers, and whatnot. Actually, it’s really good for any kind of Knowledge Worker. And if you are a software developer, you are a knowledge worker, if you didn’t know.

But, there are 2 big problems that I find with this system:

1. The course costs an arm and a leg, it’s really expensive, from about $1500 to about $6000 or $7000.
2. The system is extremely complex and you can get lost in trying to get the whole system perfectly right, and you never get it, and you never get the benefits.

It might as well be my ignorance talking here, but anyway.

I wanted to develop an 80/20 kind of system based on The Second Brain. And I did it in Notion.

Notion is the app that I use for my personal notes, for my YouTube channel, and for a lot of stuff that I do.

So, I’ve developed a simple Notion template that you can also use.

My requirements for it? To be as simple as possible, and as easy to use as possible.

If you are a Notion expert (or if you are Thomas Frank) reading this, you might laugh at the ignorant peasant that I am.

Here is the video explaining how this Second Brain Notion template works

If you want to download it, click on the button below and get the template.

Get the template

So you want to get a job as a web developer. You’ve spent so much time and effort learning the basics of how the web works. You’ve learned HTML and CSS, you’ve got your hands into JavaScript. Then you ‘graduated’ to a JS front-end framework, as all cool kids do.

Maybe you’ve dabbled with React, or Angular, or Vue.js. Or with all of them. You’ve followed a few tutorials and built some apps. If you were more ambitious, you’ve also tried to build an app of your own. Not something really that complicated, maybe a simple CRM software, a to-do list app, or a money management app, or whatever.

And, with all of this experience under your belt, you are ready to apply for a job.

The only problem is that everyone is looking for developers with extensive experience with front-end frameworks, that have already built some enterprise-grade apps.

I might be exaggerating a bit, but I’ve seen job posts that asked for 10 years of experience with React. And in case you are wondering what is wrong with that, well, React was launched only in 2013. That’s 8 years ago.

With the popularity of all the front-end frameworks (and I’m looking at you, React), there are a ton of free resources online. And that also means that everyone and their dog know how to make a to-do list app in React. Companies don’t really want to hire developers who have only built apps following tutorials.

In the past, it was easier to get a job as a “framework developer”. But it’s harder now, and you need a lot more experience.

So, what can you do?

You can become a “platform developer”. I’ve borrowed this term from Aaron Jack, who also made a video about this. He inspired me to actually make this video. What he talks about there it’s what I actually did to get my first job as a web developer.

He focuses more on learning Shopify, but I will focus on learning WordPress. Here’s the link if you want to check him out.

So, what is a platform developer? Well… a developer who develops on a platform 😂

Let me state the difference between a framework and a platform.

A framework – like React or Laravel – allows you to build anything on that. You can use Laravel to make a simple website, a blog, an e-commerce store, or an enterprise-grade app.

A platform, on the other hand, has a more specific use case. In our case, WordPress can be used to build Blogs and Websites. With WooCommerce, you can make an online store. With a plugin like Learn Dash, for example, you can make an online learning system.

A framework uses like 99% code to be developed.

A platform, well, you can go 100% no code if you fancy. Or you could build something from scratch, like a theme for example.

A platform developer is not only someone who knows how to code on that specific platform, but also who is a power user of that platform. Someone who knows the platform’s ins and outs.

And, if you already know how to code (HTML, CSS, JS, and PHP), it will be much easier to get started on a platform.

If you’ve already built websites with simple HTML and CSS, it will be much easier to start adding the code snippets and template tags that WordPress uses.

And because the requirements are lower for a platform developer, it’s way easier to get a job. With React, or Laravel you can build anything, and you need a lot of experience. But with WordPress, you can build only a specific kind of website, and the minimal experience needed is a lot less than with a framework.

And why am I hammering WordPress up and down? Especially when a lot of people are mocking WordPress saying it’s bad for developers.

Well, because I believe that WordPress is the best platform to learn in 2021, or even 2022. Why?

First, it’s the most popular. Now, over 40% of all the websites on the internet use WordPress. And also a good portion of the top 1000 websites use WordPress. For example, BBC uses WordPress.

It’s really popular, there’s a lot of demand, and, not only that, but you can also branch out from it into other development categories.

What do I mean by that?

In order to build the new Blocks that WordPress uses, guess what you have to learn? React.

If you really love the JamStack, and you have JS running through your veins, you can use WordPress as a headless CMS. You can use WordPress and its API for the backend of the website, and you can use whatever technology you want on the front-end. You can even build mobile apps on top of WordPress if you want.

Or maybe you really like the backend, and backend heavy apps. Well, if you go deep into Plugin Development, you need to go get deep into PHP. And then you can branch out to other backend frameworks like Laravel.

If you are not in the Web Development environment, you need to get in by getting a job in the industry. And the easiest way to do this is by becoming a platform developer. And the best platform for that is WordPress.

Then, what resources do you have for learning WordPress? I’m going to give you what I used to learn. I’ve taken 2 courses on Udemy.

• Brad Schiff – Become a WordPress developer
• Zac Gordon – Complete WordPress Theme & Plugin development (he also has a lot of JS for WordPress courses and tutorials)

I don’t believe you need more than this to learn how to develop WordPress themes and plugins. Oh, and we should never forget the documentation and Stack Overflow 😂

But what should you do if you already know this stuff, and want to get a job, but can’t seem to find anyone who is hiring for WordPress developers? Well, I’ve developed a course that will show you how to get a job (or a freelance client, or a contract, or whatever you want) with Cold Email.

I will teach you

• How and where to find companies that will hire you
• How to find the decision maker
• How to not look and sound like spam
• The best time to send the emails
• What to do when no one gets back to you
• And many others

If you want access to this, you can get it here.

Buy on