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
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Letters to a new developer from Joel Spolsky
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
Reflect on your mistakes
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
What is fulfillment?
Dear new developer, Stephanie Hurlburt tweets some amazing stuff. Definitely worth the follow. Here's an interesting post from her about fulfillment. From the post: I threw myself at helping others and was absolutely shocked to find myself not really that fulfilled from this work. I couldn't figure it out, was something wrong with me?! I … Continue reading What is fulfillment?
Justin Kan on whether you should work at a startup
Dear new developer, Justin Kan has deep experience in the startup space, including at an accelerator called Y Combinator. He gave a talk about why you should work for a startup, and why you shouldn't. Here's the transcript,, and here's a blog post based on it. If you're looking for good management, avoid startups: The … Continue reading Justin Kan on whether you should work at a startup
How to market yourself as a new software developer
Dear new developer, This post from Corey Snipes, an experienced software developer, is well worth a read. From the post: People skills help so much. It’s hard to overstate that. I am a competent software developer, but I am really good at working on a team and that has carried me to increasingly sophisticated and … Continue reading How to market yourself as a new software developer
Laziness, impatience, hubris
Dear new developer, Larry Wall has created foundational software (perl, patch). He coined the three virtues of a programmer: Laziness: The quality that makes you go to great effort to reduce overall energy expenditure. It makes you write labor-saving programs that other people will find useful and document what you wrote so you don't have … Continue reading Laziness, impatience, hubris
Understand the business
Dear new developer, Your code is written to further some end. It could be for academia, government, or, more likely, for business purposes. In all the cases, having a greater understanding of these overarching purposes will allow you to make smarter decisions and write better systems. However, just like in software development, business uses a … Continue reading Understand the business
Ask smart questions
Dear new developer, Asking questions well is one of the best ways to learn quickly. You can ask questions of the code, of other people or of search engines like Google. Here are excerpts of my two favorite posts about asking questions. First, How To Ask Questions The Smart Way: If you are trying to … Continue reading Ask smart questions
Letters To A New Developer 