So we meet again my friend,

Mads here with this weeks Top 3 in Tech issue to help you become a better developer. I've got a nifty trick for learning new stuff, an awesome "backend-as-a-service" platform and a killer blog post for you - so let's get right into it:

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1. The 5-minute trick

Learning to code is hard. In fact, learning any new technology / programming language / framework / library is hard.

It's also important - that we keep learning. The development industry is always evolving, and the way we create websites today is vastly different from how we did it 20, 10 or even 5 years ago. That's why being able to learn new stuff and adapt to changes is critical: to increase your hireability and make sure you're always doing the best you can.

But then comes the tricky part, because how are you supposed to stay on top of everything and actually pick up new skills?

The answer is consistency.

You simply need to tap away at something, bit by bit, for a long time. It's the only way to properly learn and store new concepts in your brain. Especially difficult concepts like coding.

That raises the next question, though: how can you stay consistent? It's a great idea in theory, but you need a strategy to carry it out.

Enter: The 5-minute trick.

And what's that, I hear you ask? Well the name is something I just coined, so you won't get far Googling it. But it's actually a pretty simple strategy I've used to improve my skills for years.

The idea is that, whatever you're learning or want to get better at, you set aside 5 minutes every single day to work on that thing. Easy, right? And when I say work, I mean actively working on it (not just consuming a video/article etc.).

The point is to force your brain to enter "learning mode" every day. And 5 minutes is the perfect number, because no day exists where you don't have 5 minutes to yourself. Regardless of your responsibilities, job, family etc., I believe that 5 daily minutes is doable for everybody.

How you use the time isn't as important, and depends on what you're learning. If you're learning to code, 5 minutes is enough to get you to open your code editor and write a few lines of code. It's enough to have you play around with one new concept you aren't familiar with. And here's the key: Now that you're in "code-mode", there's nothing stopping you from keeping it going.

So if you got the time, absolutely keep crushing it and blow right past the 5 required minutes. That will only accelerate your growth. On the flipside, if you've had a busy day/week and have to stop after 5 minutes, that's fine too - you'll be back tomorrow.

I find this strategy incredibly useful to help me stay consistent. By building the daily habit, picking up new skills become second nature. And that's exactly what will help you excel in your development career 🔥

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2. Nhost

Speaking of picking up new skills / tools: Nhost is an open source, GraphQL based alternative to Google's Firebase. It's a fully-fledged, serverless backend designed for the JAMstack and client-focused applications that still require some backend functionality. I know, buzzword galore!

What's cool about Nhost is that it's super easy to set up, and you'll get a production ready backend using lots of awesome technologies under the hood - without you having to worry about all the complexity. You just focus on building your app and let Nhost do the heavy backend lifting for you.

​It's a seriously impressive service, and I recommend checking it out if you're interested in building a full-stack app at some point:

​Check out the Nhost docs​

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3. Building your own blog

The final pick for this week is an article, written by yours truly! It's about building your own blog using Nuxt (a Vue meta framework), their Nuxt Content module, and TailwindCSS for styling. You'll be creating your own awesome blog from scratch, and I'll even include some features you can add yourself to make your blog unique.

Especially today, I think having a blog is one of the best ways to stand out to employers when applying for a job. It shows that you're passionate about coding, that you know your stuff well enough to teach it, and that you're able to communicate in writing.

All amazing features that companies are looking for in developers!

I'd love to know your thoughts on the article, so please let me know your honest feedback by replying to this email or hitting me up on Twitter.

​Read the full article​

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Thanks for reading! I would really appreciate if you would share the newsletter with your friends on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, by email or copy/paste the link mads.fyi/top3 on other platforms. It really helps to grow the newsletter and keeps me motivated to continue writing it ✌

Until next time,

Mads Brodt