Debug and Release

This is the easiest [and shortest] guide you'll ever find on how to choose a project to work on. Follow it to the T and you'll enjoy projects from now on. Thinking of a project idea The process Take some time away from [home]work and do something you enjoy . It can be anything. Think of a project that can help, enhance, or expedite the thing you already enjoy using what you already know how to do. Incorporate all of the requirements in your project if they aren't already there (ie. make your project use a database if it's required to do so in your project). Incorporate 1-2 extra things from this list and learn something new (teachers love that you tried to do something you were unfamiliar with). OCR Reading/writing files. Using AWS Lambda . A third-party library ( NPM libraries are good candidates, or other Javascript libraries ). A new language ( Rust ? Go ? Java ?). Create an API . Interact with social media through their APIs/SDKs. Slack ...

This post isn't necessary advocating for dropping out of school  to get your first programming job, but rather a list of things I wish I had a better understanding of before I started my first job as a programmer outside of school (college). Graduating from school; the only time we can wear this cool hat How you view your work We know you are working on homework all the time , but it is different in the real world. You can't approach working in a job the same way as you work on homework in school. At school, the assignments you do are against you; one on one. A duel. In a real job, work isn't simply something to get done, it is means to an end . Other people are now counting on you to get your work done. You become a dependency to others, your team, and the organization as a whole. You become a necessary lynch pin in your job. So that is what a lynch pin looks like If this raises the stakes, good. That's how you need to begin thinking at a rea...

I'll be the first to admit, programming was never something I found easy. My very first experience in programming was when I got this book at the ripe age of 11. I liked playing my Nintendo 64  and wanted to make games on my own. The book that changed it all for me My ability was far under sub-par. Somewhere in these  forums I wrote a post asking for help trying to understand a while loop - needless to say I got defensive because I felt I was being talked down by people smarter than me, telling me that I should start and learn more simpler things first (than dive right into making a PC game). Forums did actually look like this (circa 2005) The truth was, I was being too ambitious. BUT - TwisterMan was not going to code itself! (All drawn in glorious Microsoft Paint :)). Animation frames of TwisterMan doing some whirlwind attack Watch out for spikeo ! *rawr* And whoever this boss was called... Baaaa? The point I'm trying to get across i...

Quite often as a developer, you are asked to do things you do not know the answer to. When approached with these problems, pay attention to following these guidelines. Don't panic You aren't the first developer who doesn't know everything, and you certainly aren't the last. Don't panic - you are paid to solve problems, including ones you don't immediately know the answer to. It's important to approach the problem calmly. It is easy to assume a self-defeating attitude and give up when someone is asking you to do something you do not know how to do. You may feel you are unqualified, but instead of becoming a victim, accept in humility you have room to grow and calmly approach the problem. Don't ask for help -right away. Don't immediately ask for help, it shows a good work ethic and helps you develop your problem solving skills. On the other end of the spectrum, barring your individual time constraints, I would not sit trying to solve a probl...