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4 Points Of Advice For Brand New Developers

Summary

This episode of Developer Tea shifts focus from mid-level and senior engineers to provide targeted advice for those just beginning their software engineering journey. Host Jonathan Cottrell acknowledges his affinity for self-taught and young engineers, noting that this early career stage is when people are most likely to quit due to discouragement.

Cottrell offers four key pieces of advice. First, he emphasizes that all advice should be taken with a grain of salt and that developers must be ready to learn and change as they encounter new information, even when it challenges strongly held beliefs. He warns against the comfort of digging in one’s heels when faced with evidence that contradicts one’s opinions.

Second, Cottrell explains the critical distinction between acceleration (the rate of learning new things) and velocity (the total amount of knowledge). He notes that new developers experience rapid acceleration, which feels like gaining superpowers, but that this pace naturally slows as one moves into production roles. Understanding this difference can help mitigate feelings of imposter syndrome that may arise when the learning curve flattens.

Third, Cottrell delivers an important message of inclusion, stating unequivocally that regardless of background, age, gender, race, or religion, new developers are welcome in the engineering community. He acknowledges the community has growing to do but stresses that new voices and talents are needed.

Finally, Cottrell advises new engineers to look beyond just the technical code-writing aspects of the job. He argues that when technologies become obsolete, what remains is that engineering is fundamentally about people—understanding them, cooperating with them, and creating things that have a human impact. He encourages developers to become ‘human-focused engineers.‘

Recommendations

Challenges

  • 100 Days of Code — A hashtag challenge started in 2016 where participants commit to coding every day for 100 days. The host is ‘so inspired’ by seeing young engineers learn by doing and staying consistent with this challenge.

Events

  • JS Nation Conference — Described as the biggest JavaScript conference, which can be attended online. The host recommends it as a place where engineers are ‘deciding the future of JavaScript.‘

People

  • Alex Calloway — The creator of the 100DaysOfCode challenge on Twitter (handle: @KA11AWAY). The host is inspired by people participating in this challenge.

Tools

  • Zbrand — A sponsor of the episode. A service that uses AI to help launch products with minimal visual brand design resources, creating brand toolkits with fonts, color palettes, and templates.

Topic Timeline

  • 00:00:00 — Introduction and focus on new developers — Jonathan Cottrell introduces the episode, explaining that while the podcast often focuses on mid-level and senior engineers, this episode is specifically for those early in their engineering careers. He shares his personal affinity for self-taught and young engineers and notes that this stage is when people are most likely to quit. He gives a shout-out to those participating in the 100DaysOfCode challenge.
  • 00:02:28 — Meta-advice: Take all advice with a grain of salt — Cottrell begins with a disclaimer that all advice is subjective, coming from a particular perspective and experience. He advises listeners to be ready to learn and change as they encounter new evidence, even if it means discarding previously held beliefs. He compares the discomfort of changing one’s mind to the short-term comfort of skipping a workout, which is detrimental to long-term health.
  • 00:06:01 — Understanding acceleration vs. velocity in learning — Cottrell presents his second piece of advice: understand the difference between acceleration (the rate of adding new knowledge) and velocity (the total amount known). He explains that new developers experience high acceleration, which feels exciting, but this pace will slow. He connects this to imposter syndrome, noting that feelings of insecurity are often tied to a decrease in acceleration, not a lack of knowledge (velocity). This awareness can help when that feeling arises later in one’s career.
  • 00:11:10 — A message of welcome and inclusion — Returning from a sponsor break, Cottrell addresses new engineers directly with a message of inclusion. He states that no matter their background, age, gender, race, or religion, they are welcome in the engineering community. He acknowledges the community has room to grow but emphasizes that new voices, talents, and contributions are needed and valued.
  • 00:12:04 — Final advice: Become a human-focused engineer — Cottrell offers his final piece of advice. While it’s easy for new developers to focus intensely on the technical aspects of coding, he argues that when technologies change and become obsolete, what remains is that engineering is about people. It’s about cooperation, creating value for others, and making a human impact on the world. He encourages new engineers to focus on becoming ‘human-focused engineers.‘

Episode Info

  • Podcast: Developer Tea
  • Author: Jonathan Cutrell
  • Category: Technology Business Careers Society & Culture
  • Published: 2020-06-08T09:00:04Z
  • Duration: 00:15:00

References

Podcast Info

Transcript

[00:00:00] Much of this podcast is focused on providing advice to mid-level or senior-level engineers

[00:00:10] or engineering managers, people who are in some kind of mentorship or leadership role.

[00:00:17] But in today’s episode, I want to focus specifically on people who are younger engineers.

[00:00:24] And of course, it has to be said, we’re not talking about age here.

[00:00:27] We’re talking about your exposure to engineering.

[00:00:31] My name is Jonathan Cottrell.

[00:00:32] You’re listening to Developer Tea, and my goal on this show is to help driven developers

[00:00:36] like you find clarity, perspective, and purpose in their careers.

[00:00:41] And this episode is motivated by a couple of different things.

[00:00:44] One, I have a strong affinity to self-taught engineers and young engineers in their careers

[00:00:51] because it wasn’t so long ago that I was in that same seat.

[00:00:55] And every engineer at some point starts on their path towards becoming a software engineer.

[00:01:01] The second reason that I feel so strongly about this is because at the youngest stage

[00:01:06] of your career, you are most likely, most likely out of any stage to stop, to quit,

[00:01:14] to leave engineering for one reason or another.

[00:01:18] And in today’s episode, I want to provide some encouragement and hopefully encourage

[00:01:23] you if you are discouraged.

[00:01:26] A special shout out goes out to the people who are doing 100 Days of Code.

[00:01:31] This is a hashtag that was started back in 2016 by Alex Calloway on Twitter and I assume

[00:01:40] on other platforms as well.

[00:01:42] Alex Calloway, Alex’s Twitter handle is KA11AWAY, that’s K-A-1-1-A-W-A-Y on Twitter.

[00:01:51] Go and check it out.

[00:01:52] You can find him probably by just clicking up the hashtag 100 Days of Code, that’s 100

[00:01:58] Days of Code.

[00:01:59] But I’m so inspired by seeing all of these young engineers who are learning by doing,

[00:02:06] by staying consistent, by waking up every day and opening your computer to write some

[00:02:13] code.

[00:02:14] That’s the whole point of 100 Days of Code.

[00:02:16] And I want to provide some advice to those of you who are in this very, very early stage

[00:02:21] of your career.

[00:02:22] But before I provide this advice, I want to give you a little bit of a disclaimer.

[00:02:28] All advice, and this is kind of like meta advice, all advice that you ever hear as an engineer,

[00:02:35] you should take with a grain of salt.

[00:02:37] All of it is coming from a particular perspective, from someone’s experience, from their opinions,

[00:02:44] from their background.

[00:02:46] And there’s no way to have an objective piece of advice.

[00:02:50] And so you should listen to the advice of people who have come before you, but you should

[00:02:55] be ready to discard it when you have evidence that you should.

[00:03:00] After all, this is what it means to learn.

[00:03:03] We are all learning and changing.

[00:03:06] And that is my first piece of advice, to be ready to learn and change as you experience

[00:03:13] new things.

[00:03:15] Be ready to learn and change as you experience new things.

[00:03:18] This is incredibly important to take to heart at a very deep level, because the things that

[00:03:23] you’re learning right now, and you may feel like, well, I’m learning something new every

[00:03:27] day.

[00:03:28] Of course I’m open.

[00:03:29] And of course my mind is open to these new things.

[00:03:32] I’m staying totally flexible and my mind is changing every day because it’s expanding.

[00:03:36] But here’s the reality.

[00:03:38] At some point in your career, you’re going to face a crossroads.

[00:03:42] And this is true for every developer, it’s true for every non-developer, really.

[00:03:46] At some point in your career, you’re going to have a conversation where you have a very

[00:03:50] strong opinion that is different from someone else’s opinion.

[00:03:55] And I’ll be bold enough to say you’re going to have a very strong opinion or even a strong

[00:04:00] belief that is actually wrong.

[00:04:04] According to evidence or according to some fact that you don’t know, or maybe you’re

[00:04:09] denying for some reason, you’re going to have an opinion that is wrong.

[00:04:14] And this is incredibly uncomfortable.

[00:04:17] It is made more comfortable by digging your heels in.

[00:04:22] This is antithetical to what we want to do, but it’s also more comfortable.

[00:04:26] It’s very similar to getting up and working out early in the morning.

[00:04:31] Of course it’s more comfortable to stay in bed, but the comfort you experience in that

[00:04:36] short term moment is detrimental to the long term health of your body.

[00:04:41] And when it comes to changing your mind your entire career, if you’re unable to learn

[00:04:48] and adapt and grow with your peers or even on your own, let’s say you encounter some

[00:04:54] information because you were reading a book, if you’re unable to use that information

[00:04:59] to learn and grow, then you will stagnate.

[00:05:03] And right now at this early part of your career, learning and growing is exciting.

[00:05:09] It’s giving you the positive adrenaline rush because today you’re building something that

[00:05:14] maybe even yesterday you couldn’t have built.

[00:05:17] This is perhaps the most exciting part of your early career where you’re learning at

[00:05:23] such a rapid pace that it feels like you’re gaining new superpowers.

[00:05:28] I remember this rush myself when I was first learning how to do the little bit of HTML

[00:05:33] and CSS to get something on screen.

[00:05:37] And then taking that and actually going further with it, refining it, all of this making,

[00:05:43] this creative process, I was so excited about it, but eventually, eventually I hit a wall.

[00:05:51] Or at least it felt like it.

[00:05:53] In reality I hadn’t hit a wall, I just wasn’t accelerating as fast as I was before.

[00:06:01] This is my second piece of advice.

[00:06:03] Distinctly understand the difference between acceleration and velocity.

[00:06:09] This is something that we’ve covered on the show before and it’s the cause of a lot of

[00:06:13] kind of mid-career feelings of imposter syndrome.

[00:06:17] It happens to people who are well into their careers.

[00:06:20] You probably are feeling imposter syndrome right now in your youngest, your kind of early

[00:06:26] days as a developer, probably because you feel like there’s so much to learn and all

[00:06:31] of those senior developers know so much more than you do.

[00:06:35] And as a senior developer, as someone who’s been doing this for quite a while now, the

[00:06:40] reality is senior developers get that same feeling.

[00:06:44] The amount of knowledge that there is to know, the total body of knowledge is so incredibly

[00:06:52] vast that you will probably always feel like your handle on reality, your handle on software

[00:07:00] engineering, your handle on mathematics, whatever that particular thing is that causes you a

[00:07:05] sense of anxiety, causes you a sense of imposter syndrome, it’s going to be there for your

[00:07:12] whole career because the amount of knowledge that’s available to you is incredibly vast.

[00:07:18] It goes far beyond what you could ever learn in a hundred lifetimes.

[00:07:22] So we need to accept that reality.

[00:07:25] Here’s a critical difference between where you are today and where you’ll be at some

[00:07:31] point in your mid-career most likely.

[00:07:34] Today you are learning an incredibly fast pace and your pace is like an acceleration

[00:07:42] pace.

[00:07:43] In other words, you can imagine that your overall velocity is the amount that you know

[00:07:49] as an engineer and your acceleration is how fast you’re adding new things to the amount

[00:07:56] that you know.

[00:07:57] And so yesterday you may have known nothing.

[00:08:00] Let’s say you’re on day one of a hundred days of code and you went from knowing nothing

[00:08:05] to something.

[00:08:06] So you accelerated and you’re going to continue accelerating for quite a while.

[00:08:12] But at some point when you move out of that kind of primarily learning mode into some

[00:08:19] kind of production role, let’s say a mid-level engineer where you’re building products,

[00:08:23] your learning is going to shift and a lot of what you’re going to be doing is actually

[00:08:28] more like practice.

[00:08:30] You’re going to be practicing what you know and you may know a lot more at that mid-level

[00:08:37] than you do today, but you might feel even more insecure at that point than you do now.

[00:08:44] Why is this?

[00:08:45] It’s likely because your feeling of insecurity is not related to the amount you know, but

[00:08:53] rather to the acceleration of that knowledge.

[00:08:57] In other words, you may not be learning at nearly the pace that you’re learning today

[00:09:04] when you get your first job.

[00:09:06] You might feel like you’re just grinding through all of the tasks that you already kind of

[00:09:12] know how to do.

[00:09:14] But then you’ll likely look at the senior engineers who know you feel like a lot more

[00:09:19] than you do.

[00:09:20] And this can feel frustrating, it can feel a little bit scary, and you can feel like

[00:09:25] you’re stagnating.

[00:09:26] But the truth is all of the things that you’re learning today didn’t just disappear.

[00:09:33] You’re learning them today to use them at that mid-level.

[00:09:37] So this piece of advice is more about awareness and mindfulness when you do eventually hit

[00:09:44] that feeling of imposter syndrome.

[00:09:48] Understand the difference between acceleration and velocity.

[00:09:53] We’re going to take a quick sponsor break and then I’m going to come back and give you

[00:09:55] a little bit more advice, those of you who are junior developers.

[00:10:00] Today’s episode is sponsored by Zbrand.

[00:10:03] Zbrand helps you launch a product with minimum visual brand design resources without internal

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[00:10:34] Zbrand is easy to use and is free to get started.

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[00:10:56] That’s z-e-branding.com.

[00:11:00] Thanks again to Zbrand for sponsoring today’s episode of Developer Tea.

[00:11:04] So we’re talking about the early stage of your career as an engineer.

[00:11:10] The 100 days of code, that stage, the very earliest part of your journey as an engineer.

[00:11:19] And I want to be the first to tell you if no one else has, that no matter what your

[00:11:24] background is, no matter how old you are, no matter your gender, no matter your race,

[00:11:29] no matter your religion, you are welcome as an engineer.

[00:11:34] The harsh reality is that as a community, we have a lot of growing to do, but you are

[00:11:40] a part of that work and we need your voice, we need your talent, we need your mind, we

[00:11:47] need your contributions.

[00:11:49] We’re so grateful that you are a part of this larger community.

[00:11:53] So we’ve already gone through some bits of advice here, but I want to give you one final

[00:11:58] piece of advice as an engineer, as a young engineer, because right now it’s easy to

[00:12:04] focus on the code.

[00:12:07] It’s easy to focus on the technical side of this job.

[00:12:11] And there’s a lot to focus on, don’t get me wrong.

[00:12:14] There’s a lot to learn and if you can’t write code, then it’s difficult to be an engineer.

[00:12:20] But when all of the tech changes, and it will change, when all of what we learn today

[00:12:28] becomes obsolete, and it will become obsolete, this industry, this job is about people.

[00:12:37] It’s about understanding other people and being able to cooperate with them.

[00:12:42] It’s about making things that other people find valuable.

[00:12:45] It’s about making things that have an impact on the world, even if it’s a small one.

[00:12:52] And the impact on the world is not just a technological impact, it’s also a human impact.

[00:13:00] I encourage you to focus your mind and focus your efforts on not only becoming an engineer,

[00:13:09] but becoming a human-focused engineer.

[00:13:14] Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of Developer Tea.

[00:13:17] I again want to encourage those of you who are starting out on this path as an engineer

[00:13:23] that you are welcome.

[00:13:24] You’re going to have days that are difficult.

[00:13:26] You’re going to have bugs that drag you down and make you feel like you haven’t learned

[00:13:30] anything yet, but that’s going to happen for the rest of your career.

[00:13:34] And it’s just a part of being a human while also trying to be an engineer.

[00:13:39] So I want to encourage you in that particular regard.

[00:13:43] Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode.

[00:13:46] By the way, I want to take a moment to remind you about JS Nation.

[00:13:51] JS Nation is the biggest JavaScript conference.

[00:13:54] You can attend it in the cloud.

[00:13:57] That means from the comfort of your own home or from the safety of your own home.

[00:14:02] Go and check it out.

[00:14:03] Head over to live.jsnation.com.

[00:14:07] Registration is totally free.

[00:14:08] You have nothing to lose.

[00:14:10] This is a group of engineers that are essentially deciding the future of JavaScript, and JavaScript

[00:14:16] is very likely a part of your future as well.

[00:14:19] So go and check it out.

[00:14:20] Live.jsnation.com.

[00:14:21] Again, another thank you to today’s awesome sponsor, Zbrand, head over to Zbranding.com.

[00:14:27] You can get started in as little as five minutes and it’s free to get started.

[00:14:32] Go and check it out.

[00:14:33] Zbranding.com.

[00:14:34] Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of Developer T. If you enjoyed this

[00:14:37] episode, I encourage you to subscribe and whatever podcasting app you’re currently

[00:14:41] using.

[00:14:42] And of course, you can find other incredible shows on the spec network.

[00:14:46] Head over to spec.fm to get started.

[00:14:48] Thank you to today’s producer, Sarah Jackson.

[00:14:50] My name is Jonathan Cottrell and until next time, enjoy your tea.

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