What I wish I had known when starting my development career
Dear new developer, You know that moment, when you are in an interview, towards the end of it? The moment when the interviewer looks up from their notes, smiles and says "I appreciate your time. I know interviews can be exhausting, but do you have any questions for me?" Nod. Take a deep breath. And … Continue reading “So, do you have any questions for me?”
Dear new developer, When you are coding, you must be precise. If not, the compiler yells at you (if you are using a statically typed language) or you have runtime errors (if not). A mistake as simple as misspelling a word or omitting a single quote can and have caused me debugging pain. This rigor … Continue reading Answer the question someone wants answered, not the one they ask
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, I found this post covered some things that good software engineers do. It doesn't focus on the technical aspects, but on other aspects of software development. Things they do: Ask for help Work on one thing at a time Prioritise unblocking My favorite quote: In software development we rarely have the luxury … Continue reading Things good engineers do
Dear new developer, Remote work is fantastic. You avoid a commute, have control over your work environment, and save money on lunches. However, it has downsides. You need a fast internet connection, you must be disciplined, over communicate and stay on task. You have to be OK with relative solitude. My desire to work remotely … Continue reading Are you ready to work remotely?
Dear new developer, Think about the edge cases. This is one of the primary ways you can add value. Think about what happens when things go wrong. It's usually relatively straightforward to consider the happy path. Let's take the example of a relatively simple ordering application. People can login, see their orders, and can change … Continue reading Think about how things can go wrong
Dear new developer, This post talks about how to ask for mentoring, but the principles apply to getting in touch with any busy person. Busy people are by definition busy, and get a large number of emails and requests every day. (Here's a VC talking about the difference between ignoring and not replying, and how … Continue reading How to get the attention of a busy person
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
This is a guest blog post from Don Abrams, lightly edited. Enjoy. Dear new developer, When starting out, the hard part is balancing two things: Asking questions Banging your head against the wall Additionally, as a new developer you'll likely be encountering something for the first time: a codebase that is really really large. Like … Continue reading Balance Questions With “Banging Your Head”
Dear new developer, Every company has its warts (aka issues, aka problems). I have never met anyone who worked for the perfect company. So, go in with your eyes wide open and choose what warts your company has. You may be able to help fix some of them, but some will be permanent. One wart … Continue reading Work for a place where people care
Letters To A New Developer 