Kristina Thai: Become a Better Engineer Through Writing

Transcript

1. @kristinathai kristina.io Kristina Thai, iOS software engineer Become a Better Engineer
 Through Writing
2. @kristinathai kristina.io Hi, I’m Kristina Thai ! ⌚
3. @kristinathai kristina.io What makes a good engineer?
4. @kristinathai kristina.io Engineer Checklist* 01 02 03 04 “Soft” skills Communicates well Passion for learning Learns from mistakes Teacher/mentor * not a comprehensive list 01 02 03 Technical Skills Strong coder Domain expert Problem solver
5. @kristinathai kristina.io What does this have to do with writing?
6. @kristinathai kristina.io
7. @kristinathai kristina.io Code and essays have a lot more in common. The product is a sequence of logical statements, bundled into modular units – whether it be functions or paragraphs. Like good prose, good code is concise. Bad code wastes CPU cycles; bad essays waste brain cycles. “ http://www.shubhro.com/2014/12/27/software-engineers-should-write/ -Shubhro Saha
8. @kristinathai kristina.io 4 writing channels that help engineers
9. @kristinathai kristina.io Personal Journal ❓ Question & Answer Forums Blogging Technical Tutorials
10. 01 Personal Journal ✦ private place to record your technical challenges
11. @kristinathai kristina.io Personal Journal Benefits ✦ Reflection time ✦ For your eyes only ✦ Easy to get started Challenges ✦ Hard to keep up ✦ Doesn’t benefit anyone 
 else ✦ No one to correct you if
 you’re wrong Engineer Checklist Coding skills Domain expert Problem solver Communicates well Learn from mistakes
12. 02 Developer Q&A Forums ✦ places to get help with your technical problems ✦ knowledgable experts answer questions ❓
13. @kristinathai kristina.io
14. @kristinathai kristina.io
15. @kristinathai kristina.io Developer Q&A Forums Benefits ✦ Learn what others are
 struggling with ✦ Easy to pick up
 whenever you want ✦ Bite-sized chunks ✦ Builds reputation Challenges ✦ Negative comments ✦ Overt hostility ❓ Engineer Checklist Coding skills Domain expert Problem solver Communicates well Teacher/mentor
16. 03 Blogging ✦ public place to record your technical challenges
17. @kristinathai kristina.io http://swift.ayaka.me/
18. @kristinathai kristina.io http://nshipster.com/
19. @kristinathai kristina.io http://techblog.netflix.com/
20. @kristinathai kristina.io Blogging Benefits ✦ Public exposure ✦ Build reputation ✦ Reflection time Challenges ✦ Lots of time & 
 commitment ✦ Keeping your blog fresh
 & unique Engineer Checklist Coding skills Domain expert Problem solver Communicates well Passion for learning Learn from mistakes
 Teacher/mentor
21. 04 Technical Tutorials ✦ step-by-step technical walkthroughs that teach others 
 how to do something ✦ usually has a working demo project
22. @kristinathai kristina.io https://www.natashatherobot.com
23. @kristinathai kristina.io https://www.raywenderlich.com/
24. @kristinathai kristina.io Technical Tutorials Benefits ✦ Best to build reputation ✦ Reinforces learning ✦ Build full projects Challenges ✦ Even MORE time 
 & commitment ✦ Find unique & undiscovered
 solutions Engineer Check Coding skills Domain expert Problem solver Communicates well Passion for learning Learn from mistakes
 Teacher/mentor
25. @kristinathai kristina.io ❓❓❓ That’s a lot!
26. @kristinathai kristina.io My Journey
27. @kristinathai kristina.io
28. @kristinathai kristina.io Newsletters
29. @kristinathai kristina.io As of Oct 4, 2015 Website Stats
30. @kristinathai kristina.io Realm Blog Contribution
31. @kristinathai kristina.io Invites to Speak
32. @kristinathai kristina.io
33. @kristinathai kristina.io
34. @kristinathai kristina.io
35. @kristinathai kristina.io Getting Started
36. @kristinathai kristina.io Engineer Checklist 01 02 03 04 “Soft” skills Communicates well Passion for learning Learns from mistakes Teacher/mentor 01 02 03 Technical Skills Strong coder Domain expert Problem solver
37. 01 Personal Journal ✦ private place to record your technical challenges
38. @kristinathai kristina.io Personal Journal Easiest way - create a private online one ✦ Creating a private Tumblr ✦ Adjust privacy settings on wordpress.com Offline Journals/Other writing platforms ✦ Day One app ✦ Evernote ✦ Atom/Sublime Text
39. 02 Developer Q&A Forums ✦ places to get help with your technical problems ✦ knowledgable experts answer questions ❓
40. @kristinathai kristina.io Developer Q&A Forums Number 1 thing to keep in mind - community rules and communication styles on these forums Getting started with Stack Overflow Getting started on Quora
41. 03 Blogging ✦ public place to record your technical challenges
42. @kristinathai kristina.io Blogging Blogging platforms - hosted Getting started with Medium Github pages + Jekyll Ghost.org Blogging platforms - self-hosted WordPress.org SyntaxHighlighter plugin Wordfence Security plugin
43. @kristinathai kristina.io Blogging Blogging process 1. Decide on a topic 2. Lay the foundation/describe the context 3. Highlight various approaches 4. End with most optimal solution ✦ Or a question if you haven’t figured it out yourself
44. @kristinathai kristina.io Blogging Motivation Most people give up too early
45. @kristinathai kristina.io Blogging Motivation The insanely slow road to building a blog (and why most people give it up)
46. @kristinathai kristina.io Blogging Motivation ✦ How do I keep up with it all: blogging, online life & more ✦ 5 ways to keep your blog content fresh ✦ How do I start a blog and keep it up? - Quora ✦ You should write blogs ✦ Software engineers should write
47. 04 Technical Tutorials ✦ step-by-step technical walkthroughs that teach others 
 how to do something ✦ usually has a working demo project
48. @kristinathai kristina.io Technical Tutorials Tutorial creation process 1. Decide on a topic ✦ Doesn’t have to be all encompassing ✦ Determine your audience ✦ Latest questions on Stack Overflow 2. Create working project/write working code samples
49. @kristinathai kristina.io Technical Tutorials Tutorial creation process 3. Create step-by-step tutorial based on project/code samples ✦ Resource: how to write a programming tutorial ✦ My first tutorial ✦ Screenshots & copy and paste code snippets ✦ Starter code project
50. @kristinathai kristina.io Technical Tutorials Tutorial creation process 4. Upload sample project to GitHub 5. Upload tutorial to website 6. Advertise on Twitter/other social media ✦ #iOSdev #swiftlang #watchOS ✦ Newsletter accounts & influential people ✦ Post to answer a Stack Overflow question
51. @kristinathai kristina.io Tips for getting started Don’t have to be THE expert Check out your side projects Find a blogging buddy
52. @kristinathai kristina.io kristina.io/writing
53. @kristinathai kristina.io Thanks! me@kristina.io