Dear new developer, Searching is important to writing and understanding software. Less so for giving you a base of knowledge. For that, I'd seek out books, video classes or side projects, depending on how you learn. Googling well is tough if you don't know what terms to use. (I'll use google as a synonym for … Continue reading Learn to use Google, and use it well
Tag: tools
Use an RSS Reader
Dear new developer, I highly suggest using an RSS reader. I use Newsblur, but there are several good ones out there. This will let you keep on track of any publishing platform that has an RSS feed. This includes this site, but many many others. You can use it to keep tabs on your favorite … Continue reading Use an RSS Reader
Get an external email address
Dear new developer, When you are starting at any company, you'll get a company address: dan@company.com. You'll want to use that for all company communications. You may have a personal email address: fuzzyguy@gmail.com (not my real personal email address 🙂 ). But as soon as you can, you'll want to get an external email address … Continue reading Get an external email address
Learn two languages
Dear new developer, Learn two languages. When you know just one language, you can go a long way, especially if the language is dominant. In web development, that language is javascript. In system programming it's C. Both of these languages will be around forever, and you'll always be able to get a job writing them. … Continue reading Learn two languages
Use LinkedIn, and use it well
Dear new developer, Set up a LinkedIn profile and keep it up to date. This will serve as a public resume. (Yes, a github is great too, but you might not always have time to keep code up to date or an interest in a maintaining a large project.) Once a year, at a minimum, … Continue reading Use LinkedIn, and use it well
Use stackoverflow, and use it well
Dear new developer, Stackoverflow (SO) is great for three different kinds of developers (and someone can be all three over time): those who are looking for answers, usually via Google (searchers) those who are looking to showcase knowledge, usually by answering questions (answerers), and those who have a specific question to ask (askers) Every developer … Continue reading Use stackoverflow, and use it well
Businesses will spend money to make money
Dear new developer, Businesses will spend money to make money (or save money, which is essentially the same thing). This is what they are doing when they are hiring you, when they buy that shiny new office building, when they spend money on computers and other tools to help you do your job, and even … Continue reading Businesses will spend money to make money
Learn a text editor
Dear new developer, As I mentioned before, the raw "stuff" of software is primarily text files. Actually, the foundation of software is ideas and information, but unfortunately a computer can't yet run on those. So you will need to create text files. Learning a text editor will serve you well in building software. Why a … Continue reading Learn a text editor
Learn Version Control
Dear new developer, If in doubt, put it under version control. Version control is a way for you to keep track of the core nuts and bolts of code, which are files on the filesystem. Version control lets you make mistakes, err experiments, and roll back time to when things worked. Version control lets you … Continue reading Learn Version Control
Letters To A New Developer 