On Being a Developer

Talk given at Geospatial Amateurs, May 17, 2016.

Transcript

1. Laura Steadman Engineering Lead, Quick Left @adventuresteady LauraMSteadman@gmail.com ON Being A Developer
2. What We’ll Cover 1. Me - Who am I? Why am I up here talking? 2. That Thing I Do All Day - What does it mean to “be a developer” anyway? 3. You - How do you improve your coding skills? 4. We - How is group programming different? How can we improve our individual practice with ideas from coding with others?
3. ME Why am I talking about programming at a GIS Meetup? Is it time to tune out and get another beer? I’m going to ramble about myself for a bit.
4. Internship with NPS (2010) Background in GIS Certificate in GIS, Penn State (2011) ArcGIS FTW!
5. Python for ArcGIS GIS → Code HTML / CSS - I got really good at ugly websites.
6. 6 months Programming “Bootcamp” Ruby on Rails, JavaScript Web Application Development
7. Programming “Job” custom web & mobile application development
9. That thing I do all day. What does it mean to “be a developer” anyway? Development
11. GIFs - All Day, EveryDay
12. JUST KIDDING!!!! (sort of…) What Do I actually do all day?
13. Yes, I do write a LOT of code.
14. I also spend a lot of my time: • Discovering • Planning • Organizing • Learning • Collaborating • Documenting • Mentoring / Teaching
15. Communication
16. How can you become a (better) developer? YOU are amazing.
17. Who Are you? • You’ve never written code before. • You’ve tried it out some. • You have to write some code for your job. • Writing code is a big part of your job.
18. You may frequently experience the feeling of:
19. Step 1: Don’t get Overwhelmed with Frustration.
21. Step 1(a): Learn how to recognize that You need to take a break.
22. Step 2: Keep Writing Code.
24. Step 3: Learn from others; avoid “copy Pasta”
25. Step 4: Break It Down Smaller problems are easier to solve.
26. Step 5: Get Organized - with how you organize your code.
27. We Coding Is Better When It’s Done Together How can you improve your solo coding practice with group programming techniques?
28. ↑ people → ↑ coordination → ↑ communication Coding With Friends (or Coworkers…) How do we coordinate with others?
29. Process!!!
30. Wut?
31. Process Example 1: Planning Work
32. Process Example 2: Writing Code • Version Control (git) • Branching • Pull Requests • Code Review • Merge
33. Working with other people can be hard. Having a PROCESS makes things easier.
34. Having a process and a way of working helps a group: • Plan confidently. • Stay on track. • Know when you’re not on track. • Avoid stepping on toes. • Resolve dependencies and conflicts.
35. How can you improve your own coding with group process? 1. Develop your own process and follow it. 2. Use a ticket management system for your side projects. 3. Write documentation and code comments. 4. Find a friend to review your code! → Accelerate your learning!
36. Writing better code AND being a better developer really boil down to getting better at communication. Final Thoughts
38. Thanks! @adventuresteady lauramsteadman@gmail.com