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?