Dear new developer, I ran across this tweet a while ago: If there was only one piece of advice that I wish I had known early in my career as a software dev is that understanding people is more important than understanding tech, by a long shot. Jose Villalta, AWS engineer I agree wholeheartedly. Why? … Continue reading Understanding People Matters More Than Understanding Tech
This is a guest post from Kate Catlin. Enjoy. Dear new developer, Welcome to tech! Wow, I remember those days– Confusing, exciting, challenging. Nothing is certain except that you are in for a wild ride. Hold tight! The advice I’m writing to share with you today is this: Before you write any code, think first … Continue reading Think first about what problem this is solving and for whom
Dear new developer, I have recently been doing a lot more puzzles. It's a low tech way to spend time with the family. As I was working on one recently, I snapped two large sections of a puzzle together. It was very satisfying. I mused on how working on a jigsaw puzzle is a lot … Continue reading Coding is like a puzzle
Dear new developer, One of the most shocking things I learned when I started working in a professional capacity is that there are no adults in the room. That is not to denigrate everyone at your company, working hard to help make the place successful. Rather, it is to say that no one knows everything … Continue reading There are no adults in the room
Dear new developer, Reading the docs is so important. It is so easy, when you are confronted with a task, to just jump in and start doing. It feels right. It feels natural. It feels like progress. The problem is that it may be motion, but it probably is not progress. You may be spinning … Continue reading Read the documentation
Dear new developer, It's paradoxical, but sometimes the best thing you can do is not write code. Remember, the value you provide is to solve the problem you are faced with (the outcome), not to write code. Custom code has value, but comes with costs. It needs to be deployed, maintained and upgraded. It has … Continue reading The best code is no code
Dear new developer, Design patterns are common ways to implement solutions that can be repurposed across different systems and domains. This post proposes patterns for handling organizational situations. Some really good excerpts: No matter how amazing you are at your job, you will sometimes get feedback about things you could be doing better. It can … Continue reading Patterns for managing up
Letters To A New Developer 