CAREER | MUSINGS
How code turned from ‘nerd’ to ‘cool’
Once upon a time, about a decade or two ago, anyone that did ‘things’ with computers was labeled as nerds. They were the folks that spent a good majority of their time hidden away from the public eye. No one really knew what these ‘computer guys’ were up to — nor did they comprehend what was happening behind closed doors.
To the outside world, the ‘computer guys’ always seemed to be staring at their dark background screens, perched on their chairs in dimly lit rooms.
Or so the story goes — perpetuated by the help of Tinsel Town, aka, Hollywood.
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TIPS
There’s more to it than just typing in the question
Let’s get real — Googling is a skill, especially when it comes to dev work. Dev work is probably one of few industries that require the assistance of Google on a daily basis.
Yet, a good portion of us is not using Google to its full potential.
We just type in the question and expect that the search engine is smart enough to know the difference between Taylor Swift, Swift the car, and Swift the programming language. Most of the time, Google gets it right. But sometimes, we just need to be more specific with our searches.
Here are 6…
REACT
Things the Internet and coding tutorials don’t tell you
The Internet is a lot of things. It’s a teacher. It’s a resource. It’s a seemingly infinite and unstructured pool of knowledge and information.
It is also the space where React-based apps exist and thrives.
The little frontend library has taken the Internet by storm and is one of the hottest it thing in demand right now. If you’re new to software development or transitioning from a different layer of the code stack to the frontend — it seems only logical to learn React.
This is where many developers get it wrong and struggle. If you’re new to the frontend…
WORK
Are you sacrificing your spark for a paycheck?
Let’s be honest — a dev’s paycheck is mostly decent, if not on the higher tier in comparison to other potential jobs you could be doing.
It’s also easy to get stuck in the rut of becoming comfortable. You wake up, (tele)commute your way into work, do some tippity tapping, lunch, do some more tap taps on the keyboard, clock out, get cozy, Netflix, chill, eat, sleep, rinse and repeat.
In the grand scheme of things and to the external world — life is good.
For a lot of people, this is enough. But for some, there is an itch…
IDEAS
Great for practicing and learning
APIs are the bread and butter of building any app. It is the thing that makes data persistence possible. It is the data, the structure, and the thing that gives an app meaning and purpose for existing.
For many developers, especially newbies and those on the hunt for a new job, personal portfolio projects can make or break your resume from the sea of applicants.
The quickest way to show off your skills is to bootstrap together an app. Here are 10 free APIs that you can use to rapidly prototype, MVP style, some apps for your coding portfolio.
1. boredapi
WORK
where do the elderly developers go?
When it comes to dev work, there seems to be a curious trend in the workplace. The cohort of developers seems to be full of young people — straight out of college, boot camps, and self-taught courses kind of young.
Sure, we have the outliers here and there.
But where are all the elderly developers? Where did they all go? It’s not like they just disappeared into another realm…or did they?
How did we arrive at these questions? Why does it matter? and do dev careers really start to die when you turn 35?
Let’s start by looking at some stats
According to the latest StackOverflow Developer’s…
MARKETING
what to do when you build it and they don’t come?
When you’re new to the game, it’s easy to convince yourself that if you build it, they will come. As developers, we’re in the business of building things. Marketing is generally not our forte.
Back in my early days, I spent a ton of time on a project that flopped miserably because of this mindset. Over time, I’ve come to accept that I’m just another digital speck in the wide web of millions, if not billions, of comments, memes, posts, and whatever else exists on the Internet.
However, 3 years on, I’m a brighter speck than what I used to…
REACT
Digging into the library that’s taking over the frontend development scene
As I start my 8-week #buildinpublic challenge, I find myself back on the React gravy train. React as a library has exploded and taken over the Internet, especially in the frontend space. It’s a requirement on every frontend job advert I’ve seen and supported by every integration I’ve encountered.
But is React really that great?
I started out in Angular and have recently and properly moved into React development over the past few months. Here’s what I’ve discovered so far.
Mindset is everything when it comes to React
React is weird — especially if you’re used to working with frameworks and fullstack setups. …
REACT
A quick reference guide for beginners
Learning React isn’t hard — but sometimes you still need that reference sheet training wheel to help you along until you get the hang of balancing yourself on the code.
Here is a quick summary/notes on React components and classes. In short — basically, everything you sort of need to know/be aware of to get started with React classes.
** the information found here can also be found on React’s documentation. This post is more a summary of the documentation, with a few additional notes. Also, hope you like my attempts at making a summary/sharable infographic.
JavaScript Notes for React
- React tend to define…
IDEAS | REACT
How React is making UI the center-piece of frontend development
For a non-designer, thinking in visual components can be a strange process — especially if you’re new to React, or are just moving into frontend development. Our main modes of operations tend to sit at the logical layer, where business rules materialize and connections are made. For non-native frontend developers, there is often a disconnect between the visual world and code.
Since its release, React has made waves. Its popularity has exploded over the past few years with React being included as part of the tech stacks required for jobs like full-stack web developer, frontend JavaScript engineer, and UX developer.
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