Posts tagged “career advice”
AI won't kill programming jobs or leave them untouched. It's a new abstraction layer, like every one before it, that will create vastly more developers building vastly more software. Existing programmers keep their jobs; a long tail of cheaper new roles unlocks demand we couldn't previously afford to meet.
After 25 years in web dev and 10 doing data work, I finally feel like I know what I'm doing. Key lessons: hire data engineers not scientists, buy your warehouse don't build it, use dbt and Airflow like you'd use Rails, and keep domain experts close. Still figuring out dashboards and discovery.
The web stack is too vast and ever-changing for anyone to fully master. Instead of stressing about that, understand how standardization, packaging, and abstraction constantly reshape what developers actually need to know, pick your battles wisely, and embrace the fact that you'll never be bored.
Most technical interviews test the wrong things: memorized syntax, whiteboard coding, brand-name employers. Instead, hire for learning ability, intellectual honesty, clear communication, and basic decency. "Team fit" is bias in disguise. Homogeneity means you're hiring wrong. Good hiring is hard and slow, but worth it.
The web saved my life as a suicidal, closeted gay teenager in Trinidad, connecting me to people and information I desperately needed. It then taught me everything I know. That's why I've spent nearly 20 years building websites, and why I'm driven to make it easier for others to build them too.
After a slow six-month transition, I've stepped back from awe.sm. I remain an advisor, but I'm now a free agent for the first time in a decade, working on tools to make web development easier. Not job hunting, not in stealth mode, just coding.
The web industry hoards data like a magpie, but almost nobody knows how to make it mean anything. If you want job security for the next decade, learn statistics. We're paddling in the shallows while the ocean gets deeper every day.
I turned 29 yesterday. Unlike most people, I've never had to agonize over my path: the web found me at 15 and I've never looked back. I'm doing exactly what I always wanted, exactly where I want to be. I know how lucky that makes me.
Today's my last day at Yahoo!. I joined to fulfill a literal teenage dream, and it delivered: I became a better developer, engineer, and teammate. But after four years of incredible growth, I've hit a wall. Time to go somewhere new and start growing again.
I'm leaving Yahoo! to join Snowball Factory as technical lead and employee #1. We're building tools to help content creators use social media more effectively and measure their results. It's several hard problems at once, which is exactly why I'm excited.
I'm reclaiming "web developer" as a title worth owning. Bad ones build websites; good ones push the web forward as a medium, experimenting and iterating. Stop hiding behind "frontend engineer" or "web architect." If you develop the web, say so proudly.
Started programming at 11 at computer camp in Trinidad, building shapes in GWBASIC. My first real program got me my first job. Best advice: program badly for a long time, and document everything. I love web development the way other people love sunlight.
After being made redundant, I somehow ended up with four job offers from Yahoo's US office. I'm joining Yahoo! Widgets in San Francisco, leaving London and my beloved friends behind. It's a huge step, but I left Trinidad once and survived. Onwards and upwards.
Nobody knows where they're going -- not me, not anyone. We're all frightened animals making it up as we go. The trick is to just try things: plug in the box, go to the party, take the job. One of them might become your thing. Start walking.
I made a mistake at work and I own it. But being yelled at helps no one. Blame kills motivation, breeds resentment, and poisons team culture. Talk to me, help me learn from it, and we'll both be better off.
I moved to London, went job hunting, and almost immediately landed my perfect gig: PHP/SQL dev work in central London with great people and a solid salary. Starting August 11th. Now I just need to figure out where to live before my overdraft kills me.
Work got better today and I actually got stuff done. But the real highlight: found a London contract paying £200/hour for Java/Oracle/MQ Series work. That's 10x my current rate. Suddenly I'm very motivated to learn MQ Series.
Three days in and the new job is going great. Learning Oracle, comfortable environment, nice colleagues. Best part? I'm earning a pound every four minutes. Hard not to love that.
