This is a guest post from Jen Weber. Enjoy. Dear new developer, Welcome! I’m so glad you are here. We need your help to build accessible apps, inclusive engineering teams, and incredible products. What I want you to know today is that it is normal to ask many, many questions. There is so much that … Continue reading You will ask many, many questions
Dear new developer, Shut off your notifications. There are so many interruptions in your workday that it can be hard to find the time to dive into deep work. Disabling alerts from communication programs can help you stay in the zone and avoid having distractions pushed to you. Here is a list of the software … Continue reading Turn off those notifications
Dear new developer, Take the time to write good commit messages. Such messages communicate intent across time, and live very close to the code. Here's an example of a bad commit message: Updated the code. There's no intent here. Yes, of course, you did update the code. Why? Inquiring minds want to know. updated the … Continue reading Write good commit messages
Dear new developer, Dev.to is a relatively new community of developers. A few years ago, someone on that community asked for advice for junior developers, and I found the answers fascinating. Here are a few of my favorites. People should respect you. It's your right to push back against disrespectful interactions. If it's waved away … Continue reading What’s your best advice for a new developer?
Dear new developer, You have to manage your career. If you don't, no one else will. This means three things. Know what you want. Communicate that. Make moves toward it. Let's talk about each of these in turn. "Know what you want" is the hardest part. Because we are lucky to live in a world … Continue reading Manage your career
Dear new developer, The more experienced I get, the more I realize that the hard part of software development (for the kinds of software development I do, primarily business web applications) is not the coding. It's the communication. You need to communicate, often among shifting parties over weeks, months or years: why you are building … Continue reading Talk first, code later
Dear new developer, This Ask HN is worth a read, as there are some good tips on how to succeed in a larger company. I've been here for about a month now and still feel like I'm mostly just in free falling trying to figure out 95% of what anyone talks about or how to … Continue reading How to succeed at a larger company
Dear new developer, I think that there are only really four tasks you need to do to do a good job as a new developer. Say what you are going to do, then do it. This is all about communicating what you are working on. You can do this explicitly (via face to face communication … Continue reading How To Excel At Your Job As A New Developer
Dear new developer, I ran across this post with three tips for new developers. The tips were: Develop broad expertise Work in application support Hone your interpersonal skills This especially resonated with me. Note that the javascript frameworks indicate this article is a bit dated; I'd substitute React, Vue and Angular for jQuery, MooTools and … Continue reading Three Tips for New Developers
Dear new developer, I taught technology courses for about a year and a half, but have been teaching folks almost my entire career in one way or another (everyone has something to teach), primarily through my blog. One thing I've learned over time is that if you can't explain a technology choice in a way … Continue reading Learn To Explain Concepts To Non-Technical Users
Letters To A New Developer 