Heyo once again,

Another week, another Top 3 in Tech issue in your inbox. Let's jump right into it with today's essay and news from the tech world:

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1. You are not your code

One of our primary functions as developers is to write code. It's what we'll naturally spend a lot of our days on - writing code, optimizing it, fixing bugs, refactoring etc. That's why we can sometimes get a bit too attached to our code. The more time we spend on code, the more it can feel like a part of our identity.

But that can be dangerous.

The more we get attached to our code, the harder it becomes to take feedback. It becomes harder to stay objective and realize when our code could be written in a better, smarter way. Every correction or comment from a peer can feel like an attack on us, even when it's almost never meant that way. And if our code doesn't pass code review, it can feel like we failed.

That's why it's important to deal with this mental barrier. You need to switch your mindset, because someone criticizing your code has nothing to do with your person, and definitely does not reflect on your character. Your code does not === your identity.

Instead, try to see feedback as an opportunity to grow. When you think about it, having someone point out your flaws, while uncomfortable, can be a godsend. And if someone (or yourself) finds a bug in your code, that just allows you to cover a gap in your mental model and improve your skills.

Some code you write will be good and some will be bad. The key is not to get stuck on the bad parts - just learn from it as much as you can and then move on.

Life is easier that way.

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2. NextJS 12

In case you're not familiar, NextJS is a React meta-framework - meaning it's a way to write web applications with React, but with tons of added benefits out of the box. It's a seriously impressive framework, and it just got even better 🔥

Yesterday there was an official NextJS conference, where the team unveiled some of the awesome new features. They followed up with loads of awesome talks around React, performance, building API's, image optimization and lots more. Below is the initial Keynote with the major highlights, but check out the Vercel Youtube channel for all the different talks as well!

3. Tailwind JIT CDN

As you probably know, I'm a big fan of TailwindCSS - a utility first CSS framework for rapidly building modern websites. Tailwind has tons of benefits like a crazy fast workflow, great defaults, complete design flexibility and much more. And the team is currently hard at work on v3.0, which should (hopefully!) be coming out later this year.

They did just tease us with a sneak-peak at the new and updated Just-In-Time CDN, which allows you to quickly and easily get started with Tailwind - and it's the perfect tool to play around and learn the basics behind the framework and experience the workflow first hand. Check out the video on how to use the new CDN here:

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Until next time,

Mads Brodt