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Hey there,

Mads here with your bi-weekly dose of the Top 3 in Tech newsletter. This week we'll discuss how to improve your problem solving skills, the new React documentary and Twitter's absurd pricing changes + their impact on the ecosystem.

So, let's jam, shall we?

1. How to practice problem solving

Problem solving is one of the most important skills for developers. It's basically universal in coding, regardless of which programming language, framework or stack you work with: At the end of the day, our job is to solve problems with code.

But it's also one of the hardest skills to master. Problem solving requires a unique mindset and approach to any given problem, and it's where I often see new developers struggle the most - when they're faced with having to build something from scratch and don't even know where to start.

I personally had a lot of issues with this until I started approaching every new feature / bugfix / project with the same systematic approach. It goes like this:

1. Identify the largest, most overarching problem you are currently facing.

2. Break it down into smaller, more manageable chunks. The smaller the better.

3. Complete each subproblem in isolation (with pen and paper, trial and error, experimentation etc.)

4. Combine the solutions for each subproblem until the overarching problem is solved.

This might sound a bit abstract, so let's look at an example: You want to build a new portfolio website.

That's a big task, and it can be hard to know where to start - but that's our main problem (1).

Now let's break it down: The website probably consists of a few different sections like "About me", "Project" and "Contact" sections.

So, how do we proceed from here? We break it down again!

Let's focus on the "About me" section. It probably has a title, a short description and maybe an image.

We've now broken the problem down as much as possible, so let's work on the implementation. Now we just need to figure out how to add some text and an image to an HTML page and style it with CSS. Much more manageable (2).

When we're done with that, we have an About section completed - and we can move on and follow the same process with the other sections (3).

Finally, when we put everything together, we've solved the larger problem that was too difficult to tackle directly.

I found that this method makes it way easier for me to tackle complex problems. Of course it still takes a lot of practice to break each problem down and find a good solution - but it's certainly easier than staring down a big feature or project without any idea of where to start.

Give it a try, and let me know what you think!

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2. React documentary

Most of us know React ​as the most popular JavaScript framework today. But the story of how it came to life is actually really fascinating - and a result of lots of small coincidences and things that just happened to work out.

A few months ago the team at Honeypot released the official React documentary. It details how React came to life within Meta (then Facebook) and how it has grown since then to become the most widely used modern framework. It's a fascinating story, so if you're into front-end development or software engineering in general, I recommend giving it a watch:

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3. Twitter's insane pricing move

If you've been keeping up with my content for a while​, you might know that I originally started creating content specifically on Twitter. 3 years ago it was a great platform with a thriving dev community - but the way I see it, the platform has seriously deteriorated in the last ~6 months.

And last week Twitter announced their new pricing model for anyone using their official API's (aka. any scheduling tools like FeedHive, TweetHunter, Hypefury, Buffer etc.). Tools that most serious creators use to manage their content and stay active on the platform. And basically the only plan that makes sense for these tools is the Enterprise offering - starting at $42,000 per month (yes, you read that right).

Naturally this has already forced several tools out of business, as they simply can't justify that price point. And the way I see it, it's a completely absurd move on Twitter's part - but I guess only time will tell how it pans out. For me personally though, I will not continue my usual activity on Twitter for this reason. So if you're one of the many people who has enjoyed my content on there (thank you!), I encourage you to follow me on LinkedIn instead and continue keeping up with the newsletter. I really appreciate your continued support 🙌

Anyways, if you're interested, you can read more about the new pricing changes here​

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Did you enjoy today's newsletter?

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If you did, I would really appreciate if you could share the newsletter with your friends! Either by forwarding this email, or by posting about it on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook. You can also simply copy/paste the link mads.fyi/top3 on other platforms. It really helps to keep me motivated and let the newsletter grow.

That's it for now! See you in 2 weeks ✌️

— Mads Brodt