Hey hey,

In this issue of the Top 3 in Tech newsletter we'll reflect on making mistakes as a developer (and how to learn from them). We'll also look at how Adobe acquired Figma for 20 billion dollars. Finally we'll learn about a powerful new CSS selector that can really make our lives easier.

Let's get right to it:

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1. Dwelling on mistakes

One of the most common pitfalls I see junior developers fall into is getting frustrated or giving up when they realize they've made a mistake.

I get it. It never feels good to make mistakes in your work.

The problem is that coding is a very difficult concept to work with.

There's tons of things that can go wrong. Tons of things you need to learn the hard way. Tons of little "gotchas" that will catch you off guard. It's unreasonable to think you'll be a coding expert early on in your career and be able to avoid all of these.

That's why it's so crucial that you don't get stuck on your mistakes. Even if you spend several hours or days going down a wrong path, only to realize your mistake way later. And it certainly won't help if your only takeaway from such experiences are that you're "not smart enough" or "not cut out for coding".

The best thing you can do in such situations is simply learn as much as possible from the experience - and then move on.

Nobody will win if you beat yourself up over it. But if you can reframe your mindset to see it as a learning experience instead, you'll greatly reduce the chances of making a similar mistake in the future.

And the more you practice this way of thinking, the easier coding will get. Eventually you'll be able to spot your mistakes before making them.

Fail. Learn. Repeat.

That's the formula for learning to code.

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2. Adobe acquires Figma

If you've been on social media at all for the last 2 weeks, you might have noticed one of the biggest news in the tech world: Adobe has acquired the browser-based design tool Figma for a whopping 20 BILLION (yes, billion) dollars.

A few years ago I wouldn't have given this much thought. But Figma has become a really important tool in my toolbox - even as a front-end developer (and not a designer). Just having the ability to quickly mock up ideas, create simple SVG's or do light image manipulation has been a gamechanger for me.

Hopefully this acquisition doesn't ruin the amazing trajectory Figma has been on for a while. Either way, it's a big deal and quite a fascinating story how quickly Figma has grown into a true juggernaut in web design and development.

​Read the full article about Figma's future.​

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3. Powerful new CSS selector

If you've been following the newsletter for a while, you know I'm a big fan of Kevin Powell.​

He's one of the best teachers and CSS magicians I've ever seen - and he recently published a new video on the incredibly powerful :has() selector in CSS. It's a pretty recent feature, but it has solid browser support to the point where it's definitely worth learning about. And Kevin walks you through everything you need to know with great examples - especially the last one that will (quite literally) blow your mind.

Watch the full video here:

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​That's it! See you in 2 weeks 👋

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I would really appreciate if you would share the newsletter with your friends on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, by email or copy/paste the link mads.fyi/top3 on other platforms. It really helps to keep me motivated and let the newsletter grow. See you in 2 weeks ✌

— Mads Brodt