Start Your Career
Right
@samjarman • Software Engineer
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Disclaimer
I am time rich at my stage in life
The following advice is based on that
I present and blog in a purist format
However…
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Disclaimer
Any time spent on your career is time well spent
Take what you can from today and have a go applying
Happy to chat more after
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Disclaimer
This is a Twitter Friendly talk!
Use the conference hashtag
Mention me - @samjarman
Photos and quotes are welcome!
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
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Technologies
React
React Native
Objective-C
Swift - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Kotlin
Angular
Angular 2
Ember.Js
Node
AWS
Azure
Rails
C#.net
Go
Rust
Elm
ES2018
TypeScript
Kafka
Sidekiq
Redis
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Omg Kidding!
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@samjarman
A successful career is
independent of the tech you
choose.
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Soft Skills
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Skills
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Today’s Topics
Finding Paid Experience
Getting a Mentor
Unfamiliar Code Bases
Teamwork
Code Review
Learning New Stuff
Performance Reviews
Side Projects
Open Source
Personal Brand
Public Speaking
Interviewing Candidates
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Finding Paid Experience
(Thanks SOT for the image)
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@samjarman
Too many job seekers don’t put in
the effort to find work.
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Paid Experience
Use resources on offer to you
Creative in searching
Rely on your networks
Keep trying
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Finding Mentors
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Finding Mentors
Keep it casual
Do something for them first
Always pay it back and forward
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@samjarman
The best way you can pay back a
mentor is by acting on their
advice, and reporting back on
your successes.
@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Unfamiliar Codebases
Follow the design patterns
Reason and deduce
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Unfamiliar Codebases
Read the tests
Breakpoints and stack traces
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@samjarman
You always have more time than
you think to get your head around
new codebases
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Teamwork
Being a team player
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Teamwork
Decisions as a team
Pick your battles
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Teamwork
Focus on optimism
Process is a product
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@samjarman
You’re all on the same team.
Act like it.
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Code Reviews
Submitting your code for a successful review, and reviewing the code of others
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@samjarman
Code review is about improving
code, not approving code.
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@samjarman
No-one understands your code
better than you
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@samjarman
PRs are become history.
Always over-communicate.
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Learning and Direction
What do I learn next? How?
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Learning and Direction
Can’t learn it all
Look for patterns, trends among tools and technologies
Try to reduce your unknown unknowns overall in your
career
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@samjarman
It’s not about learning everything.
Its about learning to learn
anything.
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Performance Reviews
How do I accept feedback and get raises?
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Performance Reviews
Prepare for your performance review
Be open to the feedback
For a raise: Ask for explicit steps
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@samjarman
If you don’t get answers on how to
get a raise, get out of there.
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Side Projects
I don’t have any ideas
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Side Projects
Practice what you’ve learned
Automate stuff
Connect some APIS
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@samjarman
Side projects improve your skills,
let you experiment, and give you
something to talk about next
interview.
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Contributing to Open Source
How to get started with open source and contribute back to the community
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Open Source
Start Small
OS your own work
Conventions - Use COC, PR Guidelines, Good ReadMe etc
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Your Personal Brand
The term may make you gag, but the right mindset will open doors
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Personal Brand
Brand != Skill
Brand == Reputation
Give value without any expectation of anything in return
Blog, Tweet, Github, Vlog, Podcast, Radio, etc
Dev.to, Medium
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Personal Brand
Luck = Opportunity + Preparation
Personal brand creates Opportunity
Honing your craft is Preparation
You’ll get lucky.
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@samjarman
Ignore the term.
Having exposure that creates
opportunity is a good idea. Period.
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Public Speaking
Why you should and how to start
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Public Speaking
Great for learning what you know thoroughly
Start internally, move to meet ups
Look for CFPs, follow conferences, on twitter, sign up to
mailing lists
Try and try again!
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Interviewing Candidates
How to make candidates feel comfortable, and find the right addition to your team
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
Interviewing Candidates
Get bias training - avoid biases
Think about team add rather than fit
Prepare prepare prepare
Make candidate feel great, even if it’s a “no”
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@samjarman
In the best case, rejected
candidates should still be your
biggest fan.
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Do What You Can.
Be Great.
Have Fun.
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@samjarman
Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer
GOOD LUCK <3
Sam Jarman
@samjarman
[email protected]
samjarman.co.nz/diaries
DeveloperPosters.com
samjarman.co.nz/chats