This is a guest post from Anthony D. Mays. Enjoy. Dear new developer, Before jumping into some tips around making career moves, it’s important to address mindset. Many transitioning into tech encounter frustration because the journey isn’t what they hoped. You need to have accurate expectations if you’re going to succeed in any transition. You … Continue reading How To Get Into Tech: Getting Your Mind Right
Dear new developer, You know that moment, when you are in an interview, towards the end of it? The moment when the interviewer looks up from their notes, smiles and says "I appreciate your time. I know interviews can be exhausting, but do you have any questions for me?" Nod. Take a deep breath. And … Continue reading “So, do you have any questions for me?
This is a guest post from Sarah Harvey. Enjoy. Dear new developer, I’ve given this sort of pep talk to a bunch of newly joined women at Square, to the point where I’ve just decided to sit down and write all that stuff in one document. I’ll add a disclaimer that this is very engineering-focused, … Continue reading Starting a career in tech
Dear new developer, I enjoyed this article about how to quit. It covers a lot of relevant territory. My favorite quote: By convention, when people are uninspired by their role or unsure about their next career move, most hold this back from their manager. They feel a sense of duty to be invested in the … Continue reading How you quit a job is as important as how you start it
Dear new developer, Recently, I had a conversation with a new developer who was trying to break into the job market. While I'm always leery of giving too much job hunting advice to folks in this situation (after all, I wasn't a new developer during this time, and things have changed a lot since I … Continue reading Ways to stand out
This is a guest post from Ali Diamond. Enjoy. Dear new developer, Where should you look to find job listings? Finding companies With so many tech companies coming and going, how do you find a company that you want to work for? Traditionally, I’ve been told to look at the tech I use, and look … Continue reading How To Find Companies Who are Hiring
This is a guest post from Tiffany Jachja. Enjoy. Dear Developer, Many people will encourage you to set goals and find ways to share them for your career development. All of us have struggled with filling out templates, worksheets, and other forms of documentation to lead the conversation about what we hope to accomplish in … Continue reading Why is goal setting so difficult?
Dear new developer, Story time. Many years ago, I was a contractor doing web development. I focused on web/database apps in unix-like environments. I wrote primarily php, java and perl. (Like I said, it was many years ago.) A friend and former colleague reached out and said they had a client seeking development help. It … Continue reading Stretch, don’t contort
Dear new developer, I was reviewing a book outline for a friend who is writing a book on software development. As I read over his (quite detailed) outline, I realized he was missing this concept, which I feel all devs should learn: It is far better to build the correct piece of software than it … Continue reading Ship the right thing
This is a guest post from Stephen. Enjoy! Dear new developer, I have been looking for a nice definition for mentoring, and I finally found one that was short and concise on oxforddictionaries.com: An experienced and trusted adviser. I like this quote because it does not go into details, nor does it mention higher qualification … Continue reading The power of mentoring
Letters To A New Developer 