Weekly roundup #01 | 26th March — 2nd April 2018
Welcome to the first weekly roundup on DevChat! Okay, well technically it covers a week and one day but whatever. This article will contain the following:
- A very insightful interview with Travis Simpson! It’s definitely a must-read :D
- All the jobs that have been posted this week
- A huge welcome to some new members on DevChat this week
- A few of the conversations that went on this week in DevChat
Enjoy! 🙌
Interview with Travis Simpson
(@Travis Simpson on DevChat)
Hey Travis, thanks for volunteering to have the first interview on the DevChat blog — let’s get right into it!
What are your coding interests and language(s) of choice?
My current toolset includes: JavaScript, HTML & CSS (SASS and LESS), Node, React, Redux, MongoDB, MySQL, JWT, and a little bit of C, C# and C++.
What are you working on and doing dev-wise? (work, uni, side projects etc.)
Currently I am attending Lambda School for their Computer Science course with a goal of fullstack development at the end. I have dabbled in some machine learning since their first mini-bootcamp launched at the beginning of March as well.
How did you get to where you are today?
I was scrolling through Facebook one day and saw an ad for Lambda School, figured I’d check it out. I did their exam and got accepted to the school, signed up for it for the December Cohort to give me time to think about it and decide if I wanted to go for it. I had always been interested in coding and dabbled in it a little in high school, but my severe lacking ability to focus prevented me from pursuing it further. I was an assistant manager at a small store, making ~$40k a year. It was killing me with hours, working an average of 70–80 hours a week. It gave me no time for my wife or any other personal goals I had. I decided I needed a change, took a huge leap of faith, quit my job and am full time invested in this school and expanding my knowledge in a field I very much enjoy and hope to succeed in!
Wow, that’s such an amazing story — Good luck! 🍀 What has your experience been with DevChat?
I have only recently started communicating more in DevChat, getting help from the community with some projects we do at Lambda School and it has been awesome. It’s a great community, everyone is super friendly and super helpful and I’m excited to have found it and been invited to it!
How is your desktop and work environment set up?
I’ve been coding off my gaming PC I built a little over a year ago. It performs very well, though I would love to invest in a Mac for the sake of learning the OS. As well I would like to build a linux based system. I use Ubuntu for Windows for my environment, VSCode, Bash, Postman, MySQL. Lambda uses Slack to communicate regularly as well as Zoom for lectures. I use a Dual-Monitor setup which has given a decent amount of space to comfortably work on projects. I would LOVE to move to a 3 to 4 monitor set up eventually!
Do you have any good tips for staying productive?
HAH! I’m terrible at this. I find that if I limit my distractions, play some classical music and block outside noise I can focus better. I also work in 20 minute sprints with 5 minute breaks. I was highly active before this, competing in fitness competitions regularly, plus working A LOT, so I’ve sadly gotten fairly lazy and FAT from trying to adjust and transition. So I’ve started adding HIITs [High Intensity Interval Training] to my breaks to combat that as well as focus more on diet. I also take a 20 minute nap half way through the day and meditate off and on. Otherwise, to be 100% truthful, I have found I highly struggle with staying focused and could use some more help with that!
How do you like to work?
I try to set goals to complete a certain portion or amount of work in each time slot I give myself. My first 20 minutes is spent breaking down the instructions and expectations. The next 20 minutes is spent writing out a plan of attack. Then, I start my plan, trying to hit the first 2 goals in that next 20 minute sprint. If I struggle and get caught up I will try to get help. If I don’t get any response in a self-specified time limit, I will move on to another portion until I get a response. My biggest thing is to just try to keep moving and debugging
as much as possible throughout the day.
Wow, that’s a really great technique! I should try that. Do you have any handy terminal commands, keyboard shortcuts of bits of code that come in handy day-to-day?
I wish I did! I’m still learning my way around the terminal and VSCode. My biggest thing honestly at this point is the simple ctrl+c (copy), ctrl+v (paste), and occasionally ctrl+x (cut).
What is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done development-wise?
(if you’re willing to share)
Plenty of forgetting to be honest. Forgetting to add a break in a switch statement, debugging my code for hours just to figure out that was my issue,
forgetting a ; or a { }, what have you, but I think that’s common among developers! Otherwise when I first started coding I blindly copied code without truly understanding how it worked and that held me back for a good month in to Lambda! Big lesson there? DON’T JUST COPY PASTE WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOU’RE DOING!! :D
Yes, I did that too much too when I was starting out. The great thing about human memory is that you memorize what you use, so you end up learning the stuff that you look up the most. Anything else you’d like to talk about before we end?
I read a lot about and hear a lot about imposter syndrome and I experience it often. Very often. It’s scary to me, because I have committed everything I’ve got in to this career change. Some days I feel like I just won’t succeed in it at all. And that I’m wasting my time and I’m going to disappoint my wife. Then my class mates talk about it too. That helps me realise I’m not alone. Still some days, I feel I can’t code near as good as anyone I’m learning with and I hate that feeling. I constantly find myself going back to old material, especially in JS, very basic things, and how to use them and implement them. I hope to get past that very soon as I’m nearing to finishing school and very soon headed to look for work. I hope to some day start up my own business. I’ve always been a bit of an entrepreneur and love the idea of creating a couple micro-businesses. I hope to continue learning alongside DevChat, building a bigger network and helping others as I have been helped!
Wow, thanks so much Travis! This was a really awesome way to kick off weekly interviews here on DevChat, and thanks for your deep and honest answers.
Jobs this week
Wowii! That was a great read 😅 Now, for the job postings this week…
(if you’re not interested, just skip this section)
NOTE: I cannot verify that these jobs are still up for grabs, they may have been taken already. But check anyway! 😜
Also, some of the days might be different depending on your timezone, but close enough 😂
From @mustafa on Thursday:
Frontend dev needed in Berlin. pls PM!From @Michael Kantor on Thursday:
Howdy — we’re looking to hire a Software Engineer for a remote position : https://onlinelearningconsortium.org/about/careers
Thursday’s obviously post-a-job day here on DevChat!
From @Lukas on Thursday:
London based role! We are looking for a Data Engineer that is interested in working with Machine Learning services to help develop real time solutions, whilst collaborating with Data Science teams.👪👪We use Scala, Python or Java and help train people up in these languages 👨💻👩💻 if you are weaker in one of them. Machine learning experience is not required (obviously beneficial!) but a good interest in the field is enough. 🙃
The link has more info — http://bit.ly/SnrDe1
From @Edgar on Friday:
Hey Everyone! Looking for a break or change of pace? We’re looking for experienced devs, designers, and data scientists to come teach coding in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Programs are as short as 2 months to as long as a year. I’ll cover your airfare, housing, and a few other things. Teaching schedule is flexible so you’d still be able to work remotely or travel around SE Asia.- Live abroad, take a break
- Teach / Give Back
- Groom a potential hire! We’ll hook you up if you ever want to build an offshore dev team or start something here.Email me at edgar@coderschool.vn or simply use the link below to apply: https://airtable.com/shr97KdGlbEL59Rph
Okay, that’s all the jobs for this week-and-one-day!
Welcome to these new DevChatters!
@box
@Eric Gomez
@deniall
@ganesh
@Elinor Wahl
@jungleejerdan
@Sammy G
@SsainQ
@common1004
@Genesis
There are many other people who joined DevChat this week — unfortunately too many to list 😞. So, these are just the awesome folks who introduced themselves for the first time in #intro! If you haven’t it’s never too late… 😉
What happened on DevChat this week:
- On Thursday @rohit, @icydefiance, @Joshua Lawson and @miq had a big conversation on JavaScript frameworks.
- In that conversation, @miq started the longest thread ever (that I can remember) on DevChat, with 76 replies!!! 🥇🏆
- @JesusAndTacos and @icydefiance had a big conversation on OS dev in #general (Tell @JesusAndTacos if you know any good OS dev tutorials 😉)
- @sneekee gave @Shrey Batra a project to improve his Flask skills… “set up a realtime news feed from your favourite news sources”
In conclusion…
That’s it for this week! If there’s anything that you’d like me to include in the weekly roundup, DM me @Booligoosh.
Also, if you’re interested on posting an article on this blog, go ahead! Even if you’ve never written an article in your life before, you’re welcome to do so. It’s a great learning experience, and I know that personally by writing blog posts I have increased my confidence and skills with explaining things. Go ahead and try! Simply join #blog_contributors and DM me @Booligoosh. I’ll guide you along the way, and will even proofread your work for you! I’ll also help you brainstorm ideas if you want 😉
Have fun coding, and see you next week!
~ @Booligoosh
