From Acorns to Raspberries

A hitchhiker’s guide to a career in software

Transcript

1. @ben_nuttall
   From Acorns to Raspberries
   A hitchhiker’s guide to a career in software
   

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2. @ben_nuttall
   Ben Nuttall
   ●
   Senior Software Engineer, BBC
   News Labs
   ●
   Former Community Manager at
   Raspberry Pi
   ●
   From Sheffield
   ●
   Based in Cambridgeshire
   ●
   bennuttall.com
   ●
   twitter.com/ben_nuttall
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   github.com/bennuttall
   

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3. @ben_nuttall
   The Programming generational gap
   

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4. @ben_nuttall
   Acorn computer
   

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5. @ben_nuttall
   BBC Micro
   

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6. @ben_nuttall
   Age of Empires
   

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7. @ben_nuttall
   The family PC
   

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8. @ben_nuttall
   ICT at school
   

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9. @ben_nuttall
   Making websites with HTML, CSS and...
   MS Paint
   

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10. @ben_nuttall
    Linux CD in the post
    

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11. @ben_nuttall
    MATLAB & Java at Uni
    

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12. @ben_nuttall
    Back to websites
    

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13. @ben_nuttall
    Community
    

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14. @ben_nuttall
    Open Source
    

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15. @ben_nuttall
    App Start
    

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16. @ben_nuttall
    10 years later: #1 on Hacker News
    https://bennuttall.com/the-surreal-experience-of-my-first-developer-job/
    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28058816
    

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17. @ben_nuttall
    Raspberry Pi
    

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18. @ben_nuttall
    Raspberry Jam
    

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19. @ben_nuttall
    Raspberry Pi Community
    

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20. @ben_nuttall
    Raspberry Pi Foundation
    

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21. @ben_nuttall
    Development & outreach
    

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22. @ben_nuttall
    Community manager
    

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23. @ben_nuttall
    GPIO Zero
    

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24. @ben_nuttall
    piwheels
    

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25. @ben_nuttall
    Space technician
    

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26. @ben_nuttall
    BBC News Labs
    

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27. @ben_nuttall
    Radio 4 Today programme
    

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28. @ben_nuttall
    Radio 4 Today programme
    

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29. @ben_nuttall
    Image search prototype
    

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30. @ben_nuttall
    Finding your niche vs finding your breadth
    Web / software
    development
    Education /
    Outreach
    Programme management /
    Community management
    

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31. @ben_nuttall
    Tools
    ●
    Languages & language-specific tools & frameworks
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    Personal & collaborative developer tools
    –
    Version control, IDEs, testing, CLI tools
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    Distribution
    –
    PyPI, npm, apt, rpm, snap
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    Documentation
    –
    Markdown, ReST, sphinx, readthedocs, graphviz
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    DevOps / APIs / Cloud services
    –
    Linux, AWS, GCP, SaaS
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    Databases
    

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32. @ben_nuttall
    Soft skills
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    Communication
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    Documentation
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    Collaboration
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    Ideation
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    Scoping
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    Estimation
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    Prioritisation
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    Marketing
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    Writing tutorials
    ●
    Writing articles
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    Producing / presenting video
    tutorials
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    Explaining concepts
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    Training & mentoring
    ●
    Presenting
    ●
    Feedback
    

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33. @ben_nuttall
    Career paths
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    Senior/Principal engineer
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    Disciplines e.g. Front-end, back-end, ML/AI, data science
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    Production vs prototype
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    Testing & QA
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    Team lead
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    Technical Architect
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    DevOps / Cloud
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    Developer advocate / Developer relations
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    Project manager / Product owner
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    People manager
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    Training
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    Consulting
    

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34. @ben_nuttall
    10 years in webdev
    2010
    ●
    HTML
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    CSS
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    JavaScript/jQuery
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    Back-end language / framework
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    SQL database
    2020
    ●
    2010
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    HTML, Web components, VDOM
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    CSS, Sass, Tailwind
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    NodeJS, Webpack, Express, npm
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    React, Redux, Bootstrap
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    SQL or NoSQL database
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    AWS
    

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35. @ben_nuttall
    AWS
    

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36. @ben_nuttall
    Community
    ●
    Open source projects
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    Community events
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    Conferences
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    Barcamps
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    Online communities
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    Online learning resources
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    Social media
    ●
    Coding challenges
    

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37. @ben_nuttall
    From Acorns to Raspberries
    A hitchhiker’s guide to a career in software
    

    View Slide