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Dear reader, Welcome to the last letter. I couldn’t have imagined what would happen when I penned my first letter 5 years ago. (I still think you should learn version control, for the record.) This blog outlasted two jobs. 280+ posts and 220,000+ visitors later, this project has changed my life in so many ways. … Continue reading Thank you →

Dear new developer, When you see a senior engineer who knows the code base like the back of her hand maneuver around it at the speed of thought, it sure looks like magic. When a mysterious bug pops up and you spend a couple of hours trying to replicate it, but then an old hand … Continue reading It’s not magic (part 2) →

Dear new developer, I remember the first time I pulled up MapQuest in the 2000s. I looked for directions to a place I’d never been. A custom map popped up, which was cool. But even more impressive was the turn by turn directions. I printed them both out and followed the instructions. That felt like … Continue reading It’s not magic (part 1) →

Dear new developer, Over the last twenty years, I’ve had two work modes. I’ve either been at a company for a number of years (3, 8, 2, and 3) or been a contractor/consultant working for clients for weeks or months. Both modes have upsides; I wrote before about the benefits of a small consulting company. … Continue reading The Benefits of...

This is a guest post from Doug Durham. Enjoy. Dear new developer, It’s very easy to throw terms around in our (or any) industry. In our hurried culture, we latch onto words or phrases that may not fully encapsulate their original intent. I’m afraid that is what has happened to the label of “software engineer”. … Continue reading What We Mean When...