Alright, I can do this. We're back; we are at desk, we are on computer. Just— hang on, how does this work, again? You're saying that I press these keys, and somehow words will come ou— oh hey, look at that! Okay. Okay, yeah, it's coming back to me now. Alright. Ahem:
Hey, welcome back to the JavaScript for Everyone Newsletter! You might have noticed that these aren't coming quite so fast and/or furious as they once were, for a "fortnightly"-specific definition of the phrase “fast and/or furious.” I just figured everyone could do with a little break from me stomping around their inboxes banging pots and pans together and shouting about discount codes.
Clang clang clang, break's over!
No — I know, I know. We've only just emerged from the festive fog and many of you would sooner gently lower your computers into the sea as you would resume thinking about things like JavaScript. I get it; I really do.
You wouldn't know it from looking at me the past couple of weeks, though. Apart from seeing how quickly I can beat Super Metroid for the umpteenth time, I used my brief holiday reprieve from "circling back" and "touching base" to kick off a little professional development for the year to come. Developing and expanding our professional skillsets is every bit as much a part of the job as the semicolon-typing and rectangle-drawing itself, after all — and that experience is the thing that stays with you from one project, role, title, and organization to another.
I’m in the same boat as you are there, so over the break I snagged myself a copy of Scott's Mindful Design to brush up on my design thinking, grind some Penpot experience points, and learn some exciting new British-style curse words — and let me tell you, this course delivers bloodily on all fronts. Did I do that right? Sorry, I’m still getting the hang of the cursing thing.
Now, for those of you with a professional development budget, the change to the value that results from ${ ( new Date ).getFullYear() } also comes with a renewed opportunity for someone else to foot the bill for skills that can help you get promoted and paid. Granted, those budgets aren’t quite what they used to be in years of auld, so while I’m here to help you with said skills, Piccalilli is here to help you out with said bills — in the form of a winter holiday discount that will be running for the next few weeks. Use the code WINTER15 at checkout and you'll save 15% on any and all of the Piccalilli courses your heart could possibly desire.
This year we’re going to keep learning, keep improving, and keep climbing; that’s nothing new to anyone that works on the web. We’re not gonna call that a “resolution,” because we all know how those tend to shake out — instead, let’s call it setting the tone.
— Mat