Developing the skill.
WHAT TO LEARN FIRST
How the protocol works: methods, status codes, headers.
WHY
Everything else builds on it.
WHAT TO PRACTISE
Calling a public interface from the command line Building a small client Handling every failure deliberately
WHAT TO BUILD AS A FIRST PROJECT
Something connecting two services you actually use.
WHY SOMETHING REAL
It surfaces the problems tutorials omit.
WHAT THOSE PROBLEMS ARE
Authentication expiring Rate limits Responses that are not documented Failures partway
WHAT TO LEARN TO READ
Documentation, sceptically.
WHAT TO PRACTISE DELIBERATELY
Making a call fail, and handling it Retrying safely Verifying a webhook signature
WHAT SEPARATES A WORKING INTEGRATION FROM A GOOD ONE
Behaviour when things go wrong.
WHAT EMPLOYERS AND CLIENTS VALUE
Someone who considers failure before success.
WHAT TO AVOID
Assuming the happy path Copying code without understanding the error handling
WHAT TO BUILD THE HABIT OF
Asking what happens if this call never returns.
WHAT TO DOCUMENT AS YOU LEARN
Observed behaviour, per provider.
WHAT THAT BECOMES
The knowledge that makes you fast later.
