How to become a better developer (Mobify Engineering Meeting)

Transcript

1. How to become a better developer

2. The Problem We finish school and become 'professionals' Our learning

   focuses on depth and specialization Achieving breadth gets more difficult

3. better?

4. better = More $$$ / LoC / features per day?

5. My definition: to become a better crafts[wo]man

6. Craftsmanship Build software that not only works and delivers its

   business value. Build software that's well-crafted. Feel a sense of pride in how the software was built.

7. But how?

8. #1 Read books

9. Read books 4 Lot's of great books available 4 Great

   to dig deep into a subject 4 But: Figure out what to learn first

10. Great books

11. Clean Code Robert C. Martin

12. Clean Coder Robert C. Martin

13. The Passionate Programmer Chad Fowler

14. #2 Watch conference talks

15. Watch recorded talks 4 Lots of free (as in !)

    information 4 Listen to some of the smartest people in their fields

16. ! Find the good stuff 4 pyvideo.org 4 Apple's WWDC

    Session Videos 4 JSConf

17. #3 Get your code reviewed

18. Get your code reviewed 4 Sooo useful ! 4 Ask

    your reviewers to be thorough (even if it hurts ") 4 Often points you in the right direction (this is where you go and read #)

19. #4 Keep a journal

20. Keep a journal A daily work log and a things

    I've learned file

21. Check out Day One

22. #5 Read (great) code

23. Read (great) code 10 FIND 'GOLD STANDARD' PROJECT 20 READ

    30 GOTO 10

24. Read (great) code Examples: 4 Minix kernel (book) 4 Quake

    III 4 ReactJS Also, check out fabiensanglard.net

25. #6 Listen to podcasts

26. Listen to podcasts 4 A great resource 4 Learn while

    you're commuting or preparing dinner

27. Debug

28. SE Radio

29. #7 Work on side projects

30. Work on side projects 4 Explore problems that you don't

    encouter at work 4 Even small projects are fun 4 Open-sourcing them is great for your portfolio

31. #8 Immerse yourself

32. Immerse yourself 4 Do two or more of these things

    together 4 It's OK to be a nerd 4 Don't overdo it !

33. #9 Read postmortems

34. Read postmortems 4 Enlightening 'war stories' 4 Fun to read

    4 Great to draw inspiration from

35. Coders at Work Peter Seibel

36. #10 Learn a new language

37. Learn a new language 4 Cliché...but it actually works 4

    Learn a different paradigm than what you're used to 4 e.g JavaScript -> Java, Scala, Haskell 4 Check out Koans

38. #11 Learn together

39. Learn together The Engineer Meeting – You're doing it now

    ❤

40. #12 Find a mentor

41. Find a mentor 4 Learn from someone more experienced 4

    Could be a virtual mentor: 4 An author that you like 4 A successful developer who's career inspires you

42. Thanks! Questions?