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You would think in an industry that reinvents itself every few years, we would all be sprinting to keep up. But the reality is that many engineers resist change especially when it comes to their own skills. While new frameworks, tools, and paradigms emerge at breakneck speed, a significant number of engineers choose to stay within the safety of what they already know. They stop learning, stop exploring, and slowly drift into irrelevance, all the while the tech world races ahead. Let us look at the mindset behind that resistance and why breaking it is crucial for long-term success.

 

The tale of two engineers

At a software services company, two engineers Rahul and Rohan began their careers together. Rahul was always curious and proactively explored new tools, followed technologists like Kent Beck and Robert C Martin, and enrolled in online courses whenever he could. Rohan on the other hand was competent but content. He was content sticking with the .Net stack he learned years ago.

Fast forward five years, Rahul had become a Senior Engineer, picking up React, Nextjs on the frontend and Nodejs on the backend and mentoring junior developers. Meanwhile, Rohan was still working ASP.Net Web Forms waiting for his managers to provide him opportunities to learn new tech in the project itself and worried what might happen if the project ended.

 

Analogy: The comfortable couch

Learning a new skill is like replacing your old but familiar couch.

The old one might be a bit torn, lumpy and outdated, but it's comfortable. You know every creak and spring. You know where to site and be comfortable. The new one, though, sleek and better for your health comes in a box and needs extra effort to set it up. You have to assemble it, read manuals, maybe even rearrange your living room.

This is how up-skilling feels for many engineers. It is not about ability, it is about the inertia of comfort.

 

Why engineers often resist learning new skills

Career inertia & comfort zones

Often working on maintenance project, legacy systems, and long-term projects condition engineers to stop learning. Engineers become use to the pace of work. Familiarity breeds complacency, and suddenly, growth feels like a burden instead of a goal.

The illusion of mastery

Once engineers become proficient, many fall into the Dunning-Kruger trap of overestimating their expertise and underestimating how much more there is to learn. This often leads to years of stagnation masked as "experience".

"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge" – Stephen Hawking

No inspiration, no role models

Unlike other professions, software engineers often don’t follow technologists who are shaping the future. Many engineers don’t even know names like Martin Fowler (Chief Scientist at ThoughtWorks, author and speaker), Gergely Orosz (Author and publisher of Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter), or Charity Majors (Co founder and CTO of Honeycomb.io, co-authored book on Observability Engineering). They isolate themselves in their own world.

Investment apathy

Courses, books, and certifications are often seen as low ROI and not worth investing. Many engineers expect that their company would sponsor learning only then will they put in the effort to acquire new skills, never realizing that ownership of growth is personal. Even when companies provide great learning platforms still many would not pick up learning and complain about not having enough time.

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” — Derek Bok

The Passive Learning Expectation

Some engineers believe learning should happen on the job, within project work—through hand-holding or training sessions scheduled during work hours. They expect their workload to be reduced for learning. They want spoon-fed knowledge through in-person workshops or structured modules. They rarely take initiative unless the organization facilitates it entirely. The best engineers however, learn off the job to perform better on the job.

Imagine a doctor saying, “I’ll only learn that new surgical technique when a patient shows up with that exact problem.” Sounds risky, right? It’s the same in tech.

Proactive learning is the price of relevance.

 

Why up-skilling and cross-skilling matter

1. Tech moves fast - If you haven’t touched cloud platforms, AI tools, DevOps practices, or modern frontend frameworks in the last year, you are behind.

2. Cross-skilling Creates T-Shaped Engineers - Deep skill is important, but also broad awareness across domains (DevOps, testing, design, security) creates T-shaped professionals — versatile, resourceful, and irreplaceable in dynamic teams.

Elon Musk calls this the "knowledge tree" approach: Learn the trunk deeply, then branch out.

3. The best roles aren’t posted, they’re created - Engineers known for curiosity and adaptability don’t wait for promotions — they attract them. When you're growing, people notice. Leaders want learners. Opportunities follow effort.

“Once you stop learning, you start dying.” — Albert Einstein

 

Famous engineers who never stopped learning

• Guido van Rossum (Creator of Python) joined Google, Dropbox, and un-retired to join Microsoft.

• Kelsey Hightower, one of the most respected figures in DevOps, has no formal CS degree — but constant curiosity and community involvement built his career.

• Gergely Orosz, ex-Uber engineer, became a top voice in software engineering through consistent learning and sharing.

 

So, what should you do?

• Follow a technologist or two. (Start with @kentbeck, @kelseyhightower, @gergelyorosz)
• Read one technical book every 3 months.
• Invest in one online course or certification this year.
• Join a local or virtual tech meetup.
• Set a learning goal that doesn’t depend on your current job.

 

Final thought

If you’re a software engineer reading this, ask yourself:

Am I growing, or just aging in tech?

The tools you learned five years ago may not take you five years forward. In an industry that reinvents itself every two years, relevance is earned not given.