This is a guest post from Rachel Kroll, lightly edited. Enjoy. Dear new developer, I worked for a web hosting company that had a dubious history of keeping spammers around far too long. Then while I was there, they had the so-called "adware" vendor. They got mad if you called it "spyware". I honestly thought … Continue reading How To Avoid Working For Evil
Dear new developer, The title of this post is true. I've seen it done and done it myself. However, when I first started out, I saw the managers who hired me and thought "wow, they are the ones in charge; I want that!" Spoiler: I didn't. Common software development roles Let's define some common terms. … Continue reading It Is Possible To Progress In Your Career Without Managing People
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, 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 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
This is a guest post from Matt Schellhas. Enjoy. Dear new developer, I personally look for some of the same things as my peers: Is your resume/LinkedIn fine? It doesn’t need to be awesome. You don’t have a ton of experience to show, so please don’t try and oversell your experience — that just makes … Continue reading What I look for when hiring new grads
This is a guest post from Rowell Belen. Enjoy. Dear New Developer, What I am about to say may be seen as controversial and somewhat unpopular, but I believe it is important. You are responsible for your career. No one else is. It doesn't matter if you have a great boss or work at a … Continue reading You are responsible for your career. No one else is.
This is a guest post from Rizel Scarlett. Enjoy. Dear Developer, If you're experiencing impostor syndrome, you're not alone. For some people, impostor syndrome will never "go away," but you can create a healthy relationship with it. Impostor syndrome in technology is pervasive. Part of the problem is that tech is rooted in elitism and … Continue reading Own Your Power
Dear new developer, When I was a new dev, I brought my lunch almost every day. I would take a break from coding, walk out to a small embankment, and sit in the sun. I'd munch on my sandwich and carrots, and enjoy a bit of piece and quite. What a mistake! I'm not saying … Continue reading Eat lunch with your coworkers
Letters To A New Developer 