This is a guest blog post, lightly edited, from Josh Doody. Enjoy. Dear new developer, Let's talk about jobs. My first job I was 25, and I wanted to move my career along as quickly as possible. I had my first real job, and had gotten three raises and a promotion in only two and … Continue reading The best career advice I’ve ever gotten
This is a guest post from Jeff Beard, lightly edited. Enjoy. Dear New Developer, Preparing for a university job fair or similar recruiting event is very important if you want to make an impression that results in a phone screen. A hiring manager and their recruiters receive an enormous number of contacts and resumes from … Continue reading Preparing for a recruiting event
This is a guest post from Cara Borenstein. Enjoy. Dear new developer, A couple of years ago, I started my first job in Silicon Valley. I was a junior software engineer at a fast-moving company and I was so excited to have the opportunity to learn. I worked hard. I looked up terms I wasn’t … Continue reading You know more than you think
Dear new developer, I thought that this post, "The care and feeding of software engineers (or, why engineers are grumpy)", from 2012 was still relevant today. It's a long one, so I won't excerpt all the interesting parts, but this really resonated with me: Both engineers and product managers tend to think, incorrectly, that product … Continue reading Why software engineers are grumpy
Dear new developer, Hopefully you'll work in a place where you'll have regular one to ones with your manager. I find these helpful for building a relationship and engaging with your manager and your reports (if any). I even did them with my co-founder when I founded a startup. These meetings tend to be 30 … Continue reading How to manage one to ones
This is a guest post from Morgan Whaley, lightly edited. Enjoy. Dear new developer, Honestly my #1 piece of career or technical advice to new developers is: Be adaptable and authentic. I don’t think there is any one magic bullet to helping someone “break into” a job, or business, or new city. Humans are all … Continue reading Be Adaptable and Authentic
Dear new developer, I was at a lunch a few weeks ago and asked some senior engineers and managers what advice they'd give to a new developer. One said: "never stop learning". I thought this was a perceptive answer and wanted to expand on it. I learn something new every day. I'm going to talk … Continue reading Never stop learning
Dear new developer, When I was newer to development, I thought that conference speakers were experts in their area, harbored no doubts, and that they knew exactly what they were doing. Speaking about technology seemed scary (until it wasn't). I enjoyed this post, "Confessions of a Conference Speaker", pulling back the veil on the experience … Continue reading Confessions of a conference speaker
Dear new developer, A few years ago I was job hunting (during a hot job market and with almost two decades of experience) and had a lot of people turn me down or say I wasn't a good fit. Sometimes it was for coding ability, sometimes it was for familiarity with various systems, sometimes it … Continue reading You have to fit the job
Dear new developer, I thought this article nicely laid out three principles to guide a developer's career. They were: follow your taste find community take risks Each of these really resonated for me. The first because the wide world of software can lead to analysis paralysis, so you should really have some way of deciding … Continue reading Three principles for guiding your development career
Letters To A New Developer 