Thread by @abizern

Just over a week until #WWDC2020 are we excited?

I’m terrified.

While the explainers in our community are putting the final touches to their plans for blogs and videos, the rest of us will have to face a week of being reminded of how little we know.

Here are some of the ways to fight that feeling of being an imposter. (I feel like an imposter making these suggestions)

Remember, this stuff is hard. You aren’t stupid if you don’t understand it straight away.

Don’t get caught up in the speculation of what will be revealed. What will happen will happen. You gain nothing by knowing the names of the presentations in advance.

Don’t spend time watching last years videos. A lot of that stuff will be changed. Do scan the list of videos, though. That way, you will know which ones might be interesting to go back to and review.

Don’t try and learn everything. Pay attention to the subjects that you use day to day. If you aren’t using Core Data (why not?), then what’s new in Core Data might be something you watch next month, if ever.

There will be questions. It's hard to air one's ignorance in public. Have a friend or a group of friends who you feel you can ask questions of in a non-judgmental setting. Remember, you are looking for a safe space, they will be too.

There will be a lot of blog posts and videos with deeper dives into the revealed topics. You'll be tempted to watch them all. I suggest you look at some of those who released content last year. Find a couple that really resonate with you, and stick with them next week.

You can go back and watch the others the week after; I'm talking about ways to keep your sanity over WWDC week.

I find the Keynote to be a marketing event, It's been a long time since I watched one live (2016, I think). Save your energy for Platforms SotU which is more aimed at Developers and will give you a roadmap for the rest of the week.

"Learn new APIs(SwiftUI, Combine), but remember the old (UIKit, AppKit). For one is silver, the other is gold”.

You'll be playing with the new stuff, but your day job will more than likely require you to leverage the “old" ways of doing things.

Since we're all at home there is no excuse for getting enough rest. Whether you are taking the week off or catching up in the evenings. There is a lot of stuff to learn/unlearn and being tired doesn't help. Trust me - I know what I'm talking about.

Develop some kind of mental Twitter filter. It can be brutalising to see others post their sample code, talk about how this new paradigm changes everything, how they understand how it all hangs together. They are not you. It's not a competition.

Watch SotU. Make some kind of plan of what topics you will concentrate on. Pick a second topic that you will take a look at as well. Don't try to learn everything. Work on topics that you think you might get use of if you manage to get a 1-1 lab session.

Start planning now about how you'll install Beta software. A parallel install of Xcode is usually enough to get started with. If you're fortunate enough to have multiple devices decide which will be upgraded and have good backups in place.

Play with stuff. I don't do enough of this. Make stuff yourself. The talks are a start. Download the sample code and tweak it. You don't have to understand everything. You don't have to use the "right" architecture.

Don't expect the documentation to be up to date. But Command click will take you to the right place in the SDK where you can see the comments to the functions/methods/types and also the related code. It's hard to understand to start with, but it gets easier with practice.

I'll say it again:

This stuff is hard. You aren’t stupid if you don't understand it straight away.

I'll end this thread with a quote by Arthur Ashe that I have on a post-it and helps when I (frequently) feel overwhelmed:

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

WWDC isn't about winning. It's about getting a bit better every day.