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
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 • github.com/bennuttall
3. @ben_nuttall The Programming generational gap
4. @ben_nuttall Acorn computer
5. @ben_nuttall BBC Micro
6. @ben_nuttall Age of Empires
7. @ben_nuttall The family PC
8. @ben_nuttall ICT at school
9. @ben_nuttall Making websites with HTML, CSS and... MS Paint
10. @ben_nuttall Linux CD in the post
11. @ben_nuttall MATLAB & Java at Uni
12. @ben_nuttall Back to websites
13. @ben_nuttall Community
14. @ben_nuttall Open Source
15. @ben_nuttall App Start
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
17. @ben_nuttall Raspberry Pi
18. @ben_nuttall Raspberry Jam
19. @ben_nuttall Raspberry Pi Community
20. @ben_nuttall Raspberry Pi Foundation
21. @ben_nuttall Development & outreach
22. @ben_nuttall Community manager
23. @ben_nuttall GPIO Zero
24. @ben_nuttall piwheels
25. @ben_nuttall Space technician
26. @ben_nuttall BBC News Labs
27. @ben_nuttall Radio 4 Today programme
28. @ben_nuttall Radio 4 Today programme
29. @ben_nuttall Image search prototype
30. @ben_nuttall Finding your niche vs finding your breadth Web / software development Education / Outreach Programme management / Community management
31. @ben_nuttall Tools • Languages & language-specific tools & frameworks • Personal & collaborative developer tools – Version control, IDEs, testing, CLI tools • Distribution – PyPI, npm, apt, rpm, snap • Documentation – Markdown, ReST, sphinx, readthedocs, graphviz • DevOps / APIs / Cloud services – Linux, AWS, GCP, SaaS • Databases
32. @ben_nuttall Soft skills • Communication • Documentation • Collaboration • Ideation • Scoping • Estimation • Prioritisation • Marketing • Writing tutorials • Writing articles • Producing / presenting video tutorials • Explaining concepts • Training & mentoring • Presenting • Feedback
33. @ben_nuttall Career paths • Senior/Principal engineer • Disciplines e.g. Front-end, back-end, ML/AI, data science • Production vs prototype • Testing & QA • Team lead • Technical Architect • DevOps / Cloud • Developer advocate / Developer relations • Project manager / Product owner • People manager • Training • Consulting
34. @ben_nuttall 10 years in webdev 2010 • HTML • CSS • JavaScript/jQuery • Back-end language / framework • SQL database 2020 • 2010 • HTML, Web components, VDOM • CSS, Sass, Tailwind • NodeJS, Webpack, Express, npm • React, Redux, Bootstrap • SQL or NoSQL database • AWS
35. @ben_nuttall AWS
36. @ben_nuttall Community • Open source projects • Community events • Conferences • Barcamps • Online communities • Online learning resources • Social media • Coding challenges
37. @ben_nuttall From Acorns to Raspberries A hitchhiker’s guide to a career in software