Dear new developer, This came up in a Hacker News comment thread recently: I've been working since the 90s and I never attempted to do FizzBuzz. Is it really relevant? Maybe to screen junior developers out of college? And the response So, as someone who spends maybe 20% of their time hiring, it's still a … Continue reading The Surprising Number Of Programmers Who Can’t Program
Dear new developer, Writing great emails is a key skill. For all the hullabaloo about slack, emails still rule the roost when it comes to cross organization communication. This is because everyone has email, it is auditable and uneditable once sent, and requires no special permission beyond knowledge of an email address. Email is great … Continue reading Tips for using email well
Dear new developer, You will encounter good managers and bad managers in your career. I've found that one common thread for all managers is that they are busy. Busy with meetings, busy with coordination with other teams or parts of the business, busy putting out fires, busy with helping team members. Busy busy busy. They … Continue reading Write a brag document
Dear new developer, I firmly believe that having a side project makes you a better developer. This kinda sucks, because when I get home from a day struggling at the office, I don't want to sit in front of the computer for yet longer. But if you can make it happen, even if it is … Continue reading Personal projects make you a better developer
Dear new developer, I enjoyed this post from Hanah Yendler on how to succeed as a new developer. Note that she is working at Eventbrite, a larger company (1100 employees according to wikipedia), so some of the advice may be a better fit for new developers at bigger companies. A few of the pieces of … Continue reading How to be a successful junior engineer
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, Sometimes you only learn through experience. This post catalogs 30 years of experience. As I read this, I nodded my head often. Good points include: Be ready to throw your code away A lot of people, when they start with TDD, get annoyed when you say that you may have to rewrite … Continue reading Things learned the hard way
Dear new developer, I enjoyed this post from Rick Manelius (who also did a guest post a few months ago) about assuming positive intent. From the post: Chris [a client] could have crushed me, and yet he didn’t. In fact, he did the exact opposite and taught me an incredibly valuable lesson. Amidst the bickering … Continue reading Assume Positive Intent
Dear new developer, Monica Dinculescu, who works at Google, has some good advice for new developers. I don't agree with everything she says (ah, the cacophony) but some of it definitely resonates. She has a unique approach to an AMA (ask me anything) using GitHub issues. My favorite answer was to this question: Sometimes I … Continue reading Advice to New Developers From A Googler
Dear new developer, I have previously written about joining an online tech community. My personal go to right now is Hacker News. I find it has a nice mix of tech, startup/business and other interesting content for me. Here's a thread from a few months ago with advice for junior developers. Here are a few … Continue reading What is HackerNews’ Best Advice to New Developers
Letters To A New Developer 