What’s a technical coach? Two years ago, I attended an open space session at an online conference called MenderCon. The session was hosted by a technical coach who was offering to help people improve their tests. I had heard of a technical coach before, but this time it really stood out to me. The experience I had with him changed my career trajectory completely. A technical coach guides teams toward technical excellence which helps them reach their full potential.

XP and Scrum Differences This is a continuation on where we left off in the previous post: Agile Methodologies: Comparing XP and Scrum. Last time we discussed the origins of Agile and began to explore some of the differences between XP and Scrum (i.e. sprint cycles and engineering practices). Let’s get back into it! Code Reviews A code review is a process of letting a person other than the original code developer inspect the new code changes.

Transitioning from XP to Scrum Today I will discuss two Agile frameworks: Extreme Programming (XP) and Scrum. After working in an XP environment for several years, I’ve recently started on my first Scrum team. A lot of the content in this post is based on my own experiences with these two frameworks. Please note that these methodologies can vary slightly from place to place. Wait, what’s Agile again? The idea of Agile started with the Agile Manifesto.

Side Project While on vacation in India, I was given the opportunity to work on an Android app for my brother-in-law. The app would be for registering employees and would have time reporting functionality. His staff is less than 20 at the moment so I thought that Firebase would be a great utility for this project. Firebase Overview I learned about Firebase recently from a Udemy course that I am taking on Android Development.

Linux In my three months of being a software developer I have grown to love the Linux Bash CLI. In this post, we will explore some simple Linux commands that will help you get more comfortable working with the command line. ls (lists all non-hidden files in current directory) ls -la (lists all files in current directory) cat filename.txt (prints the contents of the file to the screen) vim filename.

What’s a technical coach? Two years ago, I attended an open space session at an online conference called MenderCon. The session was hosted by a technical coach who was offering to help people improve their tests. I had heard of a technical coach before, but this time it really stood out to me. The experience I had with him changed my career trajectory completely. A technical coach guides teams toward technical excellence which helps them reach their full potential.

How it all started Today I’m going to talk about how I got into software development. I will be covering my previous career, my move to Chicago, and the interview process that led to my first job in the software industry. Life as a Patent Classifier After graduating from college with a degree in Electrical Engineering, I began working for a company contracted with the US Patent Office. My job was to read patents and place tags on them which would help categorize/classify them.

Career Reflection I started my first software developer job two years ago. I’ve learned so much along the way and still have tons more to learn. In a career like this, the learning never stops as this is a continually evolving industry. I love new challenges and learning new things. In conversations with fellow developers they have been impressed in my ability to learn quickly and retain information. I’ve had several people ask me how I learn new technologies and keep my passion for software engineering so strong.

Linux In my three months of being a software developer I have grown to love the Linux Bash CLI. In this post, we will explore some simple Linux commands that will help you get more comfortable working with the command line. ls (lists all non-hidden files in current directory) ls -la (lists all files in current directory) cat filename.txt (prints the contents of the file to the screen) vim filename.

Remote Debugging We all know how to debug locally, but have you ever had an application or database running on a remote server and ever wondered if you could debug that. Well let me tell you it is possible. We try our hardest to have parity among our production and lower environments, but sometimes an exact replica can not be achieved. An example of one application at my company that could benefit from remote debugging a Production instance is the Mobile Server Team.

You can stop improving your debugging skills When I first started coding in college, I remember how hard programming was in those days. One project, we were tasked to build KABOOM! Back then, I was not good at design. We’re talking “death from a thousand if’s” here. My professor encouraged everyone to write many comments. Now I understand why… our code was impossible to read! Back then, no ones code read like a book.

1. Leave the code better than you found it To be more caring developers we must treat the code we write with respect and reverence. We must respect the future readers of your code. We often find ourselves placed with the task of maintaining legacy codebases. Some are prettier than others, but at the end of the day they are valuable to their users and serve a great purpose for the company.

Docker Introduction I guarantee you that any company you work for nowadays will be utilizing some kind of container for testing and deploying applications. The most popular of the container softwares is Docker. The main benefit of Docker is that if someone wants to run your application on their computer, they do not have to try to match your software versions just to run it. All they need to do is have Docker installed on their machine and they will be able to run your program in an isolated container that you have given the instructions on which version of software to run and how to launch the program.

Side Project While on vacation in India, I was given the opportunity to work on an Android app for my brother-in-law. The app would be for registering employees and would have time reporting functionality. His staff is less than 20 at the moment so I thought that Firebase would be a great utility for this project. Firebase Overview I learned about Firebase recently from a Udemy course that I am taking on Android Development.

What is Version Control Version control is a tool used to collaborate between people working on a codebase. The most popular version control system (VCS) tool is called Git. We will look into how Git has made open source collaboration easier and how to use this useful tool. Background Git was originally developed in 2005 by Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. Before those days, a lot of development teams would pass files around through email, floppy disks, and archived files.

Side Project While on vacation in India, I was given the opportunity to work on an Android app for my brother-in-law. The app would be for registering employees and would have time reporting functionality. His staff is less than 20 at the moment so I thought that Firebase would be a great utility for this project. Firebase Overview I learned about Firebase recently from a Udemy course that I am taking on Android Development.

TDD in React Test driven development (TDD) is a tool for breaking down complex problems into more manageable chunks. This post will explore my journey of applying a TDD approach to website development using React, Jest, and the React Testing Library. In this experiment, I didn’t look at the browser for feedback at all. Instead I got all of my feedback from the automated tests. By focusing on the behavior of the components I’m building, I am able to get a working UI quickly and I’m able to change it’s behavior while still verifying its accuracy.

Why write unit tests? As developers, we want to write code that works and has as few bugs as possible. For example, when we write some production code we expect that given an input of abc the application will respond with 123. Writing and running automated tests can give developers a high level of confidence that their code does what it’s supposed to do. Unit tests isolate the system under test and throw a variety of scenarios in the system’s direction.

Side Project While on vacation in India, I was given the opportunity to work on an Android app for my brother-in-law. The app would be for registering employees and would have time reporting functionality. His staff is less than 20 at the moment so I thought that Firebase would be a great utility for this project. Firebase Overview I learned about Firebase recently from a Udemy course that I am taking on Android Development.

What’s a technical coach? Two years ago, I attended an open space session at an online conference called MenderCon. The session was hosted by a technical coach who was offering to help people improve their tests. I had heard of a technical coach before, but this time it really stood out to me. The experience I had with him changed my career trajectory completely. A technical coach guides teams toward technical excellence which helps them reach their full potential.

Career Reflection I started my first software developer job two years ago. I’ve learned so much along the way and still have tons more to learn. In a career like this, the learning never stops as this is a continually evolving industry. I love new challenges and learning new things. In conversations with fellow developers they have been impressed in my ability to learn quickly and retain information. I’ve had several people ask me how I learn new technologies and keep my passion for software engineering so strong.

Linux In my three months of being a software developer I have grown to love the Linux Bash CLI. In this post, we will explore some simple Linux commands that will help you get more comfortable working with the command line. ls (lists all non-hidden files in current directory) ls -la (lists all files in current directory) cat filename.txt (prints the contents of the file to the screen) vim filename.

1. Leave the code better than you found it To be more caring developers we must treat the code we write with respect and reverence. We must respect the future readers of your code. We often find ourselves placed with the task of maintaining legacy codebases. Some are prettier than others, but at the end of the day they are valuable to their users and serve a great purpose for the company.

Why write unit tests? As developers, we want to write code that works and has as few bugs as possible. For example, when we write some production code we expect that given an input of abc the application will respond with 123. Writing and running automated tests can give developers a high level of confidence that their code does what it’s supposed to do. Unit tests isolate the system under test and throw a variety of scenarios in the system’s direction.

Docker Introduction I guarantee you that any company you work for nowadays will be utilizing some kind of container for testing and deploying applications. The most popular of the container softwares is Docker. The main benefit of Docker is that if someone wants to run your application on their computer, they do not have to try to match your software versions just to run it. All they need to do is have Docker installed on their machine and they will be able to run your program in an isolated container that you have given the instructions on which version of software to run and how to launch the program.

Remote Debugging We all know how to debug locally, but have you ever had an application or database running on a remote server and ever wondered if you could debug that. Well let me tell you it is possible. We try our hardest to have parity among our production and lower environments, but sometimes an exact replica can not be achieved. An example of one application at my company that could benefit from remote debugging a Production instance is the Mobile Server Team.

Side Project While on vacation in India, I was given the opportunity to work on an Android app for my brother-in-law. The app would be for registering employees and would have time reporting functionality. His staff is less than 20 at the moment so I thought that Firebase would be a great utility for this project. Firebase Overview I learned about Firebase recently from a Udemy course that I am taking on Android Development.

TDD in React Test driven development (TDD) is a tool for breaking down complex problems into more manageable chunks. This post will explore my journey of applying a TDD approach to website development using React, Jest, and the React Testing Library. In this experiment, I didn’t look at the browser for feedback at all. Instead I got all of my feedback from the automated tests. By focusing on the behavior of the components I’m building, I am able to get a working UI quickly and I’m able to change it’s behavior while still verifying its accuracy.

You can stop improving your debugging skills When I first started coding in college, I remember how hard programming was in those days. One project, we were tasked to build KABOOM! Back then, I was not good at design. We’re talking “death from a thousand if’s” here. My professor encouraged everyone to write many comments. Now I understand why… our code was impossible to read! Back then, no ones code read like a book.

Docker Introduction I guarantee you that any company you work for nowadays will be utilizing some kind of container for testing and deploying applications. The most popular of the container softwares is Docker. The main benefit of Docker is that if someone wants to run your application on their computer, they do not have to try to match your software versions just to run it. All they need to do is have Docker installed on their machine and they will be able to run your program in an isolated container that you have given the instructions on which version of software to run and how to launch the program.

How it all started Today I’m going to talk about how I got into software development. I will be covering my previous career, my move to Chicago, and the interview process that led to my first job in the software industry. Life as a Patent Classifier After graduating from college with a degree in Electrical Engineering, I began working for a company contracted with the US Patent Office. My job was to read patents and place tags on them which would help categorize/classify them.

XP and Scrum Differences This is a continuation on where we left off in the previous post: Agile Methodologies: Comparing XP and Scrum. Last time we discussed the origins of Agile and began to explore some of the differences between XP and Scrum (i.e. sprint cycles and engineering practices). Let’s get back into it! Code Reviews A code review is a process of letting a person other than the original code developer inspect the new code changes.

Transitioning from XP to Scrum Today I will discuss two Agile frameworks: Extreme Programming (XP) and Scrum. After working in an XP environment for several years, I’ve recently started on my first Scrum team. A lot of the content in this post is based on my own experiences with these two frameworks. Please note that these methodologies can vary slightly from place to place. Wait, what’s Agile again? The idea of Agile started with the Agile Manifesto.

Career Reflection I started my first software developer job two years ago. I’ve learned so much along the way and still have tons more to learn. In a career like this, the learning never stops as this is a continually evolving industry. I love new challenges and learning new things. In conversations with fellow developers they have been impressed in my ability to learn quickly and retain information. I’ve had several people ask me how I learn new technologies and keep my passion for software engineering so strong.

Docker Introduction I guarantee you that any company you work for nowadays will be utilizing some kind of container for testing and deploying applications. The most popular of the container softwares is Docker. The main benefit of Docker is that if someone wants to run your application on their computer, they do not have to try to match your software versions just to run it. All they need to do is have Docker installed on their machine and they will be able to run your program in an isolated container that you have given the instructions on which version of software to run and how to launch the program.

Remote Debugging We all know how to debug locally, but have you ever had an application or database running on a remote server and ever wondered if you could debug that. Well let me tell you it is possible. We try our hardest to have parity among our production and lower environments, but sometimes an exact replica can not be achieved. An example of one application at my company that could benefit from remote debugging a Production instance is the Mobile Server Team.

What’s a technical coach? Two years ago, I attended an open space session at an online conference called MenderCon. The session was hosted by a technical coach who was offering to help people improve their tests. I had heard of a technical coach before, but this time it really stood out to me. The experience I had with him changed my career trajectory completely. A technical coach guides teams toward technical excellence which helps them reach their full potential.

You can stop improving your debugging skills When I first started coding in college, I remember how hard programming was in those days. One project, we were tasked to build KABOOM! Back then, I was not good at design. We’re talking “death from a thousand if’s” here. My professor encouraged everyone to write many comments. Now I understand why… our code was impossible to read! Back then, no ones code read like a book.

TDD in React Test driven development (TDD) is a tool for breaking down complex problems into more manageable chunks. This post will explore my journey of applying a TDD approach to website development using React, Jest, and the React Testing Library. In this experiment, I didn’t look at the browser for feedback at all. Instead I got all of my feedback from the automated tests. By focusing on the behavior of the components I’m building, I am able to get a working UI quickly and I’m able to change it’s behavior while still verifying its accuracy.

Why write unit tests? As developers, we want to write code that works and has as few bugs as possible. For example, when we write some production code we expect that given an input of abc the application will respond with 123. Writing and running automated tests can give developers a high level of confidence that their code does what it’s supposed to do. Unit tests isolate the system under test and throw a variety of scenarios in the system’s direction.

What is Version Control Version control is a tool used to collaborate between people working on a codebase. The most popular version control system (VCS) tool is called Git. We will look into how Git has made open source collaboration easier and how to use this useful tool. Background Git was originally developed in 2005 by Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux. Before those days, a lot of development teams would pass files around through email, floppy disks, and archived files.

TDD in React Test driven development (TDD) is a tool for breaking down complex problems into more manageable chunks. This post will explore my journey of applying a TDD approach to website development using React, Jest, and the React Testing Library. In this experiment, I didn’t look at the browser for feedback at all. Instead I got all of my feedback from the automated tests. By focusing on the behavior of the components I’m building, I am able to get a working UI quickly and I’m able to change it’s behavior while still verifying its accuracy.