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Practical Advice for Establishing Your Engineer...
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Liz
July 21, 2015
Programming
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Practical Advice for Establishing Your Engineering Career
Liz
July 21, 2015
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Transcript
practical advice for establishing your engineering career Liz Abinante @feministy
preface
this shit is really, really hard.
the same advice doesn’t work for everyone.
do the things that make the most sense for you.
my story
age 7 typing
age 12 building websites
age 15 blogging & designing
age 19 profit… kinda
age 26 building web apps
OMG THE INTERNET
age 26 first engineering job
my first year
5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new
devs organize/attend ~40 meetups
5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new
devs organize/attend ~40 meetups
5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new
devs organize/attend ~40 meetups
5 conference talks 1 conference panel mentor lots of new
devs organize/attend ~40 meetups
girl develop it chicago education leader
rails girls summer of code coach
learn 3 javascript frameworks
make ~2,000 commits
OMG TOO MUCH WANT TO DIE :(
1 burn out literally me
seriously. don’t do this.
i did all of this because people told me i
had to if i wanted to grow my career.
their advice
speak at conferences!
contribute to open source!
be public! use twitter!
write blog posts!
answer questions on stack overflow!
attend every meetup!
introduce yourself to everyone at all of the meetups you
attend!
learn a new programming language!
volunteer!
do ALLTHETHINGS!
do ALLTHETHINGS! WHAT BURNOUT????
their advice is a mine field.
their advice requires you to take risks.
who are they?
people with privilege who feel safe being public.
people with and without privilege fighting the fight.
people who actually like doing these things.
you do not have to follow this advice if it
makes you feel
you do not have to follow this advice if it
makes you feel unsafe
you do not have to follow this advice if it
makes you feel overworked
you do not have to follow this advice if it
makes you feel unhappy
you do not have to follow this advice if it
makes you feel unappreciated
you do not have to follow this advice if it
makes you feel inadequate
you can follow this advice if it sounds good to
you.
it is not bad advice.
in fact, i will give you some of the same
advice.
it simply doesn’t work for everyone, and it’s not the
only path to career growth.
my advice
two principles
two principles consume
two principles consume share
four axes
four axes code
four axes code knowledge
four axes code knowledge experience
four axes code knowledge experience network
the things you choose to do depend a lot on
the path you want your career to take
growing on different axes will shape your career in different
ways
consume
consume consuming takes time, the amount is up to you
consume you don’t have to consume everything
consume you don’t have to learn from toxic sources
consume you can consume at your own speed
consume you can consume things relevant to what you do,
or completely different
consume you can consume in many different ways
consume you don’t have to be present physically to take
advantage of a resource
consume you can consume online
consume you can consume in person
consume you can consume alone, in a quiet dark corner
with a cute fluffy puppy
code read the source code for everything you use
code lurk in pull requests for things you’re interested in
code review solutions to popular coding problems
code compare solutions for coding problems across different languages
knowledge watch recorded conference talks and panels
knowledge subscribe to technical mailing lists
knowledge read technical blogs or books by people you like
knowledge attend conferences, meetups, and trainings
knowledge listen to podcasts
experience read things by people who have come before you
experience ask for help
experience ask for advice
network ask for introductions
network turn a friend into an acquaintance
network use resources created by friends-of-friends
network join irc or slack channels
share
share you don't have to share with anyone you don't
personally know or trust
share you don't have to share everything you do
share you can say no to sharing
share you don't have to be a public figure, on
the internet or in person
share you can share anonymously
share sharing anonymously will still help you grow your career
share sharing isn’t just to get your stuff out there
so you can be seen or recognized
share sharing is also about practicing how you present yourself,
your work, and your achievements to others
share sharing will help you practice talking about your achievements
when it comes time for a review at work or a new job interview
share sharing will help you catalog your professional history and
growth
share sharing will help you find trends in your own
work
share sharing will help you find your strengths and weaknesses
code publish what you can, not just what you think
is “good enough”
code pair up on projects with friends, remote or in
person
code play with things that interest you
code revisit, refactor, and review your old code
code document your refactoring
knowledge write down or explain your technical decisions, processes, and
ideas
knowledge informal lunch and learns with friends and colleagues
knowledge share ideas and work through challenges over email and
irc
knowledge conference talks, lightning talks, panels
knowledge teach workshops
knowledge teach a friend
experience share your story
experience share your mistakes
experience mentor people you know
network work with your friends whenever you can, and invite
new people to join
network introduce new friends to your social circle
network start a small, informal hack night, discussion, or forum
network contribute to a friend-of-a- friend’s project
network create irc or slack channels and invite all your
cool new friends
final tips
take what works, throw out what doesn’t
take breaks and don’t push yourself too hard
try a new thing sometimes
set goals
measure progress
reevaluate goals
questions? slides: speakerdeck.com/feministy blog: lizabinante.com (resources, links, etc) email:
[email protected]
twitter: feministy irc: feministy