Advice for New Devs

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about advice for new devs, our advice and opinions for how new devs can level up. Sanity - Sponsor Sanity.io is a real-time headless CMS with a fully customizable Content Studio built in React. Get a Sanity powered site up and running in minutes at sanity.io/create. Get an awesome supercharged free developer plan on sanity.io/syntax. Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your code, track errors and monitor performance with Sentry. Sentry’s Application Monitoring platform helps developers see performance issues, fix errors faster, and optimize their code health. Cut your time on error resolution from hours to minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners new to Sentry can get two months for free by visiting Sentry.io and using the coupon code TASTYTREAT during sign up. Cloudinary - Sponsor Cloudinary is the best way to manage images and videos in the cloud. Edit and transform for any use case, from performance to personalization, using Cloudinary’s APIs, SDKs, widgets, and integrations. Show Notes 01:59 - Get comfortable with your code not working All of our code is broken much of the time. 02:40 - Compound learning and momentum is your biggest tool There is no formation without repetition. It sucks to hear, but honestly, if you get a little bit better every single day, you will be WAY ahead in years to come. Keep at it, keep chipping away, take the lows and the highs. 04:05 - Learn to read error messages Is this error coming from my code? Is this coming from the library? If so, maybe the library wasn’t expecting that. Is this coming from the browser? An extension? Is it even related? Stack trace is a treasure map 09:42 - Take the time to learn the concepts that scare you They are often easier than they seem (though not every time). 10:40 - We all struggle This stuff is hard — give yourself a break. 12:56 - Taking a walk is good for solving bugs It’s hard to walk away from broken code, but it really helps. 14:33 - Get comfortable with the command line You’ll need it 18:09 - The ability to replicate a design pixel perfect is a valuable skill You will be shocked at how many devs can’t or don’t do this. If you want to avoid spending extra time on something, don’t make the designers tell you to go back and fix simple spacing, color, and detail things. 21:26 - You are on a team Don’t get stuck in the "us vs them" mentality of internal company teams (e.g. devs vs designers). You are all working together to make something. 24:10 - You are not an expert Even if you think you are an expert, you should always be seeking out alternate viewpoints and ideas. You are a student forever in this game. 26:14 - Scaffold with comments It helps keep you organized once you get into the mess 28:30 - From Twitter Tweet thread - https://twitter.com/wesbos/status/1417139639861735424 29:30 - Ben Newton Soft skills are about as important as coding skills if you want to go far. https://twitter.com/BenENewton/status/1417140062211526658 32:46 - Eric McCormick Don’t be afraid to push yourself beyond your comfort zone. https://twitter.com/edm00se/status/1417140503527792640 33:31 - Jason Liggi You don’t have to code for fun. https://twitter.com/Liggi/status/1417141600124346371 35:34 - Andrew Nickerson Start by building a project that’s interesting to you. https://twitter.com/Nickvisual/status/1417140742531674118 37:15 - Michael Powers Ask questions, break things once in a while, learn vanilla everything even if it feels like a waste of time. https://twitter.com/mgrpowers/status/1417141364525912064 39:33 - Jason Liggi Doesn’t matter how long you do this job, MOST stuff out there will probably be unknown and confusing. https://twitter.com/Liggi/status/1417141322478235653 40:14 - Swashata Learn to read documentation https://twitter.com/swashata/status/1417142055436910598 49:59 - Max Stoiber Know your tradeoffs. https://twitter.com/mxstbr/status/1417142461709828101 43:34 - Pat Clarke Build a rapport with PMs/clients beyond the technical. https://twitter.com/LeftShotDev/status/1417142505494269954 44:21 - Musa Barighzaai Leave things better than you found them. https://twitter.com/mbarighzaai/status/1417142734993907715 45:20 - David Moore Build things that excite you. https://twitter.com/DavidIMoore/status/1417145783581741067 Links https://johnlindquist.com/ https://github.com/albertlauncher/albert ××× SIIIIICK ××× PIIIICKS ××× Scott: Raycast Wes: Amazon iPhone Repair Kits Shameless Plugs Scott: Web Components 101 - Sign up for the year and save 25%! Wes: All Courses - Use the coupon code ‘Syntax’ for $10 off! Tweet us your tasty treats! Scott’s Instagram LevelUpTutorials Instagram Wes’ Instagram Wes’ Twitter Wes’ Facebook Scott’s Twitter Make sure to include @SyntaxFM in your tweets