N Ways To Be A Better Developer

Delivered as the opening keynote together with @lornajane at the BBC:Develop event in Manchester.

Transcript

1. Lorna Mitchell
   
   !
   Ivo Jansch
   BBC:Develop
   
   12 November 2013
   

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2. Participate In Communities
   

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3. Ask Questions But Learn To Fish
   

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4. !
   "Give a man a fish and you feed
   him for a day. Teach a man to fish
   and you feed him for a lifetime."
   !
   Chinese Proverb
   

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5. Keep Reading
   

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6. #linktuesday
   http://sitepoint.com
   http://stackoverflow.com
   http://dzone.com
   

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7. Learn To Google
   

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8. Would I
   
   be the
   
   only one?
   Broad
   
   Search
   Generalize
   
   the
   
   Problem
   Minimize
   
   Scenario
   Yes
   No
   Found
   Narrow
   
   Search
   Found
   Post
   Get help
   A Problem
   Solved
   

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9. Take It One Step At A Time
   

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10. Pick a new
    technology
    Explore
    Get
    
    Comfortable
    Master
    

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11. The Dunning-Kruger Effect
    

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12. What there
    
    is to
    
    know
    What you
    think you
    could
    
    know
    What you
    think
    
    you know
    What you
    know
    “Seniors”
    Overestimation
    Unawareness
    ‘I know everything’
    

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13. What
    
    there
    
    is to
    
    know
    What you
    
    think you
    
    could
    
    know
    What
    
    you
    
    think
    
    you
    
    know
    What
    
    you
    
    know
    Actual Seniors
    Modesty
    Awareness
    ‘I know what I don’t know’
    

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14. Keep Your Hands Dirty
    

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15. Learn To Speak Manager
    

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16. Planning Revenue Mindshare
    Stock Win-Win Paradigm
    Spin-off
    Stake-
    
    holder
    Mission
    Eyeballs Profit Monetize
    CxO KPIs
    Post
    Mortem
    BINGO CHART
    

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18. Reflect
    

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19. Less = More
    

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20. “Perfection is achieved, not when
    there is nothing more to add, but
    when there is nothing left to take
    away”
    !
    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
    

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21. Conference
    Speaker
    Organizer
    Attendee
    Event
    Person
    Entity
    better
    ok bad
    

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22. Learn Other Languages
    

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23. !
    !
    System.out.print(‘Hello’);
    !
    ?>
    

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24. Confessional Debugging
    

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25. Know Your Tools
    

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26. Passion
    

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27. Be Healthy
    

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28. Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
    

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29. Conclusion
    

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30. Lorna Mitchell
    http://www.lornajane.net
    @lornajane
    Ivo Jansch
    http://www.egeniq.com
    @ijansch
    !
    !
    !
    Get the book: http://nwaysbook.com
    !
    !
    !
    !
    !
    The full credits for the pictures in this presentation can be found in the slide deck online.
    

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31. Resources
    The following URLS point to relevant information. If you liked the presentation, you are going to want to
    have a look at the following sites:
    
    !
    • Sleep Well - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/11/23/coders_insomnia_mental_hygiene/ 

    On the Be Healthy slide, we talked about how good health improves your development skills. This is
    an interesting article about recommended sleep hygiene for programmers..
    
    • How To Ask Questions The Smart Way - http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html 

    This article by Eric Raymond goes with the item about asking questions.
    
    • ‘Just Google It’ by Carl Vuorinen - http://cvuorinen.net/just-google-it/#/
    
    • The Passionate Programmer - http://pragprog.com/titles/cfcar2/the-passionate-programmer 

    In the ‘Passion’ item, we mentioned a book by the pragmatic programmers. This is the URL for it.
    
    

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32. Credits
    The following pictures were used in this presentation. All images are licensed with a creative common license.
    
    !
    • ‘#27’ by Dwayne Madden - http://www.flickr.com/photos/dj-dwayne/4553167357/
    
    • ‘This Way’ by Steve Snodgrass - http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevensnodgrass/4906011803/
    
    • ‘I don’t want to be your ...’ by Josh Pesavento - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pezz/3785769013/
    
    • ‘Matt Dillon kicks off ...’ by Yodel Anecdotal - http://www.flickr.com/photos/yodelanecdotal/499434961/
    
    • ‘Still Human’ by Quinn Dombrowski - http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/3821448668/
    
    • ‘Good Friends’ by Juliana Coutinho - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ngmmemuda/4166182931/
    
    • ‘TAM London Audience’ by Matt Brown - http://www.flickr.com/photos/londonmatt/3977320759/
    
    • ‘Crowd in DPC’ by Juozas Kaziukenas - http://www.flickr.com/photos/juokaz/4702578495/
    
    • ‘The Bridge’ by Ian Carroll - http://www.flickr.com/photos/iancarroll/3050791327/
    
    • ‘Bingo Night’ by Robert Banh - http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertbanh/3319821124/
    
    • Untitled by Kristina Sohappy - http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristina-sohappy/4242102266/
    
    • ‘ZendCon Tutorial Day’ by Andries Seutens - http://www.flickr.com/photos/andriesss/4027902414/
    
    • ‘Google Logo in Building43’ by Robert Scoble - http://www.flickr.com/photos/scobleizer/4249731778/
    
    • ‘Tiffus teaching Hoonan how to fish by Brett Kelly - http://www.flickr.com/photos/inkedmn/758241963/
    
    • ‘Programming related books at home, RHS’ by Michael Fogus - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fogus/2629211069/
    
    • ‘Darts of Pleasure’ by Melissa Gray - http://www.flickr.com/photos/melissagray/4002863212/
    
    • ‘One step at a time’ by Fernando de Sousa - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fernando/150271931/
    
    • ‘War and Peace Show’ by Growl Roar - http://www.flickr.com/photos/growlroar/4821487849/
    
    • ‘Less is more? More than what?’ by Theilr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/theilr/2200873034/
    
    • ‘Spaghetti’ by Cyclonebill - http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclonebill/2223412838/
    
    • ‘Ian Barber’ by Stuart Herbert - http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuartherbert/6231988180
    
    

    

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33. Credits
    The following pictures were used in this presentation. All images are licensed with a creative common license.
    
    !
    • Untitled by Eduard Orbitron - http://www.flickr.com/photos/eduardorbitron/5187761681/
    
    • ‘Riverside and I-35’ by Dustin Coates - http://www.flickr.com/photos/dustinc/577521134/
    
    • ‘Drawer Organizers’ by Rubbermaid Products - http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubbermaid/4545308035/
    
    • ‘Complicated Sign’ by Redvers - http://www.flickr.com/photos/redvers/1249510693/
    
    • ‘Library Refresh’ by Mike McCune - http://www.flickr.com/photos/mccun934/5000045252/
    
    • ‘The requisite startup foosball table’ by Quami77 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/yakshaving/3795071232/
    
    • ‘Haystack’ by Fod Tzellos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/fod/237453417/
    
    • ‘Red Lion Denver Southeast Fitness Center’ by Red Lion - http://www.flickr.com/photos/43536733@N03/4009413538/
    
    • ‘Fire’ by Matthew Venn - http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthewvenn/366986755/
    
    • ‘Main conference room’ by Felix de Vliegher - http://www.flickr.com/photos/felixdv/2579551939/
    
    • ‘Tools’ by ZZPza - http://www.flickr.com/photos/89618128@N00/3269784239
    
    • ‘Inflatable linux penguin’ by PinkMoose - http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkmoose/3283397547
    
    !
    We have used other materials, such as the Dilbert and XKCD comics and the Yoda picture from Star Wars, under the assumptions
    that embedding them is fair use; they are copyrighted by their respective owners. Sources:
    
    !
    • http://www.dilbert.com
    
    • http://www.xkcd.org
    
    

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