What I wish I had known when starting my development career
Dear new developer, Learn two languages. When you know just one language, you can go a long way, especially if the language is dominant. In web development, that language is javascript. In system programming it's C. Both of these languages will be around forever, and you'll always be able to get a job writing them. … Continue reading Learn two languages
Dear new developer, I already covered the right way to ask questions, but this post was so good that I wanted to share it. (I found it on hackernews.) Mike Ash gives advice on how to get answers from the internet. Tips like "explain everything up front", "post your code" and "follow up after you … Continue reading The right way to ask a question to get an answer
Dear new developer, If you have a job, you're probably making pretty good money. I know when I started I was making a lot more money than I ever had before (it was $42,000 per year, but this was in 1999). Man, it felt good to just buy what I wanted to buy and not … Continue reading Learn about personal finance
Dear new developer, Looks like Joel Spolsky has written a number of blogs posts aimed at new developers. Every post is tagged with the date so you can be aware of any old posts that may have dated advice. But I've been following Joel since a colleague emailed the Joel Test around our workplace in … Continue reading Letters to a new developer from Joel Spolsky
Dear new developer, Set up a LinkedIn profile and keep it up to date. This will serve as a public resume. (Yes, a github is great too, but you might not always have time to keep code up to date or an interest in a maintaining a large project.) Once a year, at a minimum, … Continue reading Use LinkedIn, and use it well
This is a guest blog post from Kyle Coberly. Enjoy. Dear new developer, You can do this. There's a lifetime of stuff to learn and it will seem intimidating, but if you keep doing it, you'll get better. Teenagers, career changers, and retirees all have done this, and they weren't any smarter or more naturally … Continue reading You can do this.
Dear new developer, Stackoverflow (SO) is great for three different kinds of developers (and someone can be all three over time): those who are looking for answers, usually via Google (searchers) those who are looking to showcase knowledge, usually by answering questions (answerers), and those who have a specific question to ask (askers) Every developer … Continue reading Use stackoverflow, and use it well
Dear new developer, This post called "Leveling Up Skill #10: Reflecting on Mistakes ", part of a series on leveling up as a programmer, provides a good solid process for reflecting on, learning from, and moving past mistakes. I liked two parts of this in particular. The calling out of the "it's ok to make … Continue reading Reflect on your mistakes
Letters To A New Developer 