Swyx - Coding Career Handbook

David and Swyx talk coding careers and junior dev expectations.
Featuring Swyx, former Developer Experience Engineer at Netlify and current Senior Developer Advocate for Amazon Web Services ( AWS )

Talking Points:
  • Best practices in goal setting.
  • Gain new perspectives to the interview process.
  • New ways of defining software engineering roles.
  • How to pick your first job.
  • Should you specialize your job skills?
  • The multiple layers of knowledge used in programming.
  • What is expected of a newly hired Junior Developer.
  • Shaun goes into detail about the interview process.
  • Learn more about js.la
  • Is there any value in side-projects?
Quotable Quotes:
  • “Goals don’t tell you how to reach them.” - SW
  • “Focus on the means to the goals instead of the goals themselves.” - SW
  • “[ Finding out what job you want ] is a lot about self-knowledge than asking others for answers.” - SW
  • “You get paid more when you specialize.” -SW
  • “It is on you to tell people what you are best at.” -SW
  • “It is better to be resilient to mistakes rather than to plan on never making any mistake ever.” - SW
  • “Someone who treats technologies as checking off of boxes may treat technologies very shallowly.“- SW
  • “The more you learn the more you realize you don’t know.” - SW
  • “Remember that you are not expected to know everything when hired as a Junior Dev.“- SW
  • “You’re not going to have many years as a junior developer. This is your time to not know things and learn.” - SW
  • “Tests are the best documentation.” - DG
  • ” Why do businesses hire people full-time instead of freelancers? They hire people full time so that they are incentivized to work and will know the business intimately. So if you continue to define yourself by technology, you are no different than the freelancer.” - SW
  • “You want to be a person that knows the business value of the software you use.” - SW
  • “I encourage proof of work over portfolios.” - SW
  • “One of the most valuable assets that junior developers have is the beginners mind.” - DG
  • “Side-projects are a great way to explore new technologies that you would otherwise not get to work with at work.” - SW
Notes:
Junior-to-Senior Community