Start Your Career Right

Presented at https://codecampwellington.nz/

Starting off your software development career, especially if it's your first career, can be tough. There is so much to learn, more than just syntax of code! This talk, aimed at junior, intermediate or even senior developers(!) covers some of the key tricks to a successful career, such as finding a mentor, working in a team, finding direction, supercharging your learning, getting your performance reviewed and much more.

Transcript

1. Start Your Career Right @samjarman • Software Engineer
2. @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…
3. @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
4. @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
5. 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
6. Omg Kidding!
7. @samjarman A successful career is independent of the tech you choose.
8. Soft Skills
9. Skills
10. @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
11. Finding Paid Experience (Thanks SOT for the image)
12. @samjarman Too many job seekers don’t put in the effort to find work.
13. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Paid Experience Use resources on offer to you Creative in searching Rely on your networks Keep trying
14. Finding Mentors
15. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Finding Mentors Keep it casual Do something for them first Always pay it back and forward
16. @samjarman The best way you can pay back a mentor is by acting on their advice, and reporting back on your successes.
17. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Finding Mentors "
18. Unfamiliar Codebases
19. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Unfamiliar Codebases Follow the design patterns Reason and deduce
20. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Unfamiliar Codebases Read the tests Breakpoints and stack traces
21. @samjarman You always have more time than you think to get your head around new codebases
22. Teamwork Being a team player
23. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Teamwork Decisions as a team Pick your battles
24. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Teamwork Focus on optimism Process is a product
25. @samjarman You’re all on the same team. Act like it.
26. Code Reviews Submitting your code for a successful review, and reviewing the code of others
27. @samjarman Code review is about improving code, not approving code.
28. @samjarman No-one understands your code better than you
29. @samjarman PRs are become history. Always over-communicate.
30. Learning and Direction What do I learn next? How?
31. @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
32. @samjarman It’s not about learning everything. Its about learning to learn anything.
33. Performance Reviews How do I accept feedback and get raises?
34. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Performance Reviews Prepare for your performance review Be open to the feedback For a raise: Ask for explicit steps
35. @samjarman If you don’t get answers on how to get a raise, get out of there.
36. Side Projects I don’t have any ideas
37. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Side Projects Practice what you’ve learned Automate stuff Connect some APIS
38. @samjarman Side projects improve your skills, let you experiment, and give you something to talk about next interview.
39. Contributing to Open Source How to get started with open source and contribute back to the community
40. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Open Source Start Small OS your own work Conventions - Use COC, PR Guidelines, Good ReadMe etc
41. Your Personal Brand The term may make you gag, but the right mindset will open doors
42. @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
43. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer Personal Brand Luck = Opportunity + Preparation Personal brand creates Opportunity Honing your craft is Preparation You’ll get lucky.
44. @samjarman Ignore the term. Having exposure that creates opportunity is a good idea. Period.
45. Public Speaking Why you should and how to start
46. @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!
47. Interviewing Candidates How to make candidates feel comfortable, and find the right addition to your team
48. @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”
49. @samjarman In the best case, rejected candidates should still be your biggest fan.
50. Do What You Can. Be Great. Have Fun.
51. @samjarman Questions? bit.ly/ccwcareer GOOD LUCK <3 Sam Jarman @samjarman sam@samjarman.co.nz samjarman.co.nz/diaries DeveloperPosters.com samjarman.co.nz/chats