“Why do you want to work here?”

Like a similarly problematic interview question — “Tell me about yourself” — “Why do you want to work here?” requires you to focus on a specific answer without any clues, contexts, or prompting from the interviewer. It’s a blank space — but that doesn’t mean you can wing it and fill it with just anything.

How to Answer “Why Do You Want to Work Here?”

Drawing from my 16 years of experience as a communications coach as well as someone who’s sat on both sides of the interview table many times, I recommend three basic approaches:

1. Express your personal passion for the employer’s product/service/mission.
2. Explain why you would enjoy the responsibilities of the role.
3. Describe how you can see yourself succeeding in the role, given your skills and experience.

You can use any combination of these three approaches so long as you keep your answer concise. Here’s how to tackle each approach effectively along with sample answers to use as a guide.

1. Express your personal passion for the employer’s product/service/mission.

Employers want to know you’re passionate about what they do, whether it takes the shape of a product, a service, a mission, or a brand. You can also connect your passion to the company’s core values, which can often be found on their website. Showing you’re passionate about the position is particularly important if you’re applying for a role at a nonprofit where the mission matches your personal values.

But how do you convey this enthusiasm? CEO consultant Sabina Nawaz offers useful tips in her HBR piece, “How to Show You’re Passionate in an Interview.” As she writes, “When you’re passionate about something, it tends to spill over into other aspects of your life.” Identify those examples in your own life and share them during your interview. Expressing enthusiasm is not about “display[ing] the kind of full-throated, table-thumping behaviours companies tend to equate with passion,” Sabina explains. It’s about conveying “what matters most to you.”

And remember to be clear about why you are passionate, not just that you are passionate. Simon Sinek has schooled us all on the importance of “why,” and it’s no less important in a job interview than it is in a sales call or CEO keynote.

2. Explain why you would enjoy the responsibilities of the role.

It’s no secret that we work harder, better, and longer when we enjoy the work, and what employer wouldn’t want that dedication from their staff? But it’s your responsibility to make that connection between job and joy clear. That connection can be as simple as “X is something I enjoy,” but expressing how or why you enjoy it makes that point even more valuable and memorable.

3. Describe how you can see yourself succeeding in the role, given your skills and experience.

While the interviewer is hiring you for who you are and what you can do now, they’re also interested in what you can achieve in the future. After all, they’re not just hiring you; they’re investing in you.

Express confidence about your ability to succeed and grow in the role. Use phrases like “Given my experience in X, I can see myself succeeding…,” “I look forward to using my skills to…,” and “I think I will contribute by….” The key is to describe how your previous experience has prepared you to hit the ground running.

Summary

Before your next interview, practice your response to “Why do you want to work here?” out loud, not just in your head. And keep in mind that the best answer is less about why you want them and more about why they should want you. If you convey passion, enthusiasm, and optimism with specificity, you’ll connect to the interviewer’s wish list in a way that will leave them thinking, “This is why we want you to work here.”

Read the full article at the link below!

source: https://hbr.org/2022/08/how-to-answer-why-do-you-want-to-work-here

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The job of programmer is one of the high-paid jobs in the market and one of the coolest jobs people find to do. Learning to code and mastering it can take years for a beginner. Most people give up before they truly get started. In the beginning, we get very excited about the concept of learning to code, but later in most of cases students or beginners give up quickly because they find it difficult to continue, they get stuck and they face difficulty in finding the solution for a code. Learning to program isn’t an overnight journey but it’s also not as difficult as people think about it, all it just requires is dedication, passion, interest, and definitely patience.

There are so many online and offline resources available to learn to code easily, quickly, and effectively. Here we discuss some tips to learn programming effectively and faster.

1. Make Your Fundamentals Clear:

A common mistake that a student or beginner commit while learning programming is skipping the fundamentals or chapter 1 and directly jumping to the next chapter right away. To understand the advanced concepts of programming you need to be very clear about the fundamentals of programming. If you will be doing the same mistake then at some point, you will end up with lots of confusion and you will have to come back to your basics again. These fundamentals are Data Structures, variables, control structures, syntax, tools, or text editors. When you start doing programming pick one programming language, stick with it, and clear all the basics of programming first before going to the next level. Your overall time to learn coding will be definitely saved if you will follow this path.

2. Learn By Doing, Practicing and Not Just Reading:

A common mistake beginners do while learning programming is just reading a book or looking at the sample code on their desktop without practicing it. It’s easy to read about the loops, variables, and getting all the things in your head but actual programming doesn’t work in this way. You really need to get your hands dirty in coding and keep practicing it regularly. When you start programming you face a lot of problems, you get stuck there, you will be asked to implement the code practically and find the solution for a specific problem and there you will scratch your head while implementing the code. When you write the code, play with the code, change your code to see different results, optimize the code and try different solutions, your logical thinking ability get improves day by day and you eventually learn a lot of things that make you a better programmer. When you start coding, practice the same code or sample again and again until or unless you don’t need to refer to the same book or resource from where you have learned. Also build your own project, participate in coding challenges, play coding related games, practice it at your own end every single day.

3. Code By Hand:

When you start programming as a beginner you will be thinking that why should I code by hand. It’s a time-consuming process, I can’t run and check my code on paper and also if I actually need to implement something on my system then why should I use pen and paper. One of the biggest reasons is the interviews. When you will apply for jobs in programming, most of the time the technical evaluation process will include code by hand. You will be asked to write code using pen and paper or you might have to use a whiteboard. Coding by hand is something old-school technique but it actually involves a test for a programmer’s proficiency. Coding by hand can give you a clear understanding of syntax and algorithms, you make a deeper connection in your brain. Learning programming this way will make your work easier and faster later.

4. Share, Teach, Discuss and Ask For Help:

One of the best ways to understand programming easily and quickly is teaching. Teaching to someone, sharing your knowledge, doing discussions with other programmers will make you a better programmer quickly. Teaching to someone is teaching to yourself too, so if you are able to teach to somebody that means you truly understand the concepts. It is the best habit to learn something in-depth and you will realize that you don’t need to come back on the same topic.
You can also participate in open source projects, discuss your code with your co-programmers or contribute on Github, also you can take help from forum or discussion site. When you learn programming do not hesitate in asking for help. Beginners do this mistake and feel shy when they need to ask for help. It doesn’t matter if you ask silly questions and look stupid, it will help you in the long run and if you don’t do it you will be struggling in coding later. So it’s good to find a mentor or take help from fellow programmers to understand concepts easily and quickly. Your mentor or professional can guide you better because they have been already in your shoes before.

5. Use Online Resources:

There are plenty of online resources available paid or unpaid. You can take help from these online resources and start your programming journey. You can subscribe to youtube channels or try coding boot camps to learn programming quickly and effectively. GeeksforGeeks, Udemy, Coursera and plenty of resources available for guidance and to learn programming. Also make a habit of reading programming related blogs, and taking help from Stackoverflow, Reddit’s “learn programming” subreddit like site or online community.

6. Take Breaks:

If you want to learn programming it’s not good to sit in front of a computer for hours and hours and try to grasp everything in one go. You will be exhaust by doing this so it’s better to learn coding in chunks. Take some short breaks to get refreshed. You should also keep this thing in mind while debugging your code. Sometimes you spend hours and hours to find the bug but you don’t get the solution for your code so it’s good to take a short break, clear your mind and do something else. It will restore your focus and you may come up with the solution for your code where you were stuck. Also, try to eliminate all kinds of distractions. Turn off your phone notification, email notifications and try to isolate yourself to be focused. By doing this you will save your lot of time and will stay away from headache or frustration.

7. Learn to Use Debugger:

Making mistakes in coding is very common and it’s completely acceptable in programming. You will find a lot of errors in your code at the beginning so it’s good to use debuggers to find out errors, impacts on your result and check where you have made the mistake. You will save a lot of time using a debugger or a tool to fix the errors in your code. If you are good at debugging, it will be easier to learn to program. So learn to use some good debugging techniques or use tools to check your piece of code.

In the end, the last tip is not to quit when you start your journey in programming. You might be thinking in the middle that you are not smart enough to code but keep in mind that in order to think like a coder it takes some time and patience but to learn it quickly, you just need to follow the right path and be consistent. Follow everything step-by-step, make your fundamentals clear first, keep practicing it and once you are done with basics take the challenges and participate in competitive programming on different sites to get better at it, to build your logical ability, and to think like a coder. You will find yourself later how good a coder you have become by practicing it each and every single day.

source: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/7-tips-and-tricks-to-learn-programming-faster/

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That being said, the office is not dead. Research suggests the majority of UK employees want a mix of office-based and remote working post-pandemic. According to a survey of 1,000 workers by The Adecco Group UK and Ireland, 77% of UK employees say a “hybrid” model of working would be ideal, with 79% adding that more flexibility is important.

“A hybrid working model is where people split their time between the office and home. They may also make use of a co-working space, cafe or members club. We’re hearing a lot about various styles of hybrid working at the moment,” says Victoria McLean, founder & CEO of City CV, a career consultancy and outplacement services firm.

“That’s because during the pandemic we’ve all been told to work from home if possible,” she adds. “But, preliminary findings from employee research, suggests that (when it’s safe) some would prefer some kind of combined home/office working pattern.

“In practice, that’s likely to mean two to three days a week in the office and two to three days a week working at home, but those patterns will vary depending on the employer, the job role and geography.”

Alongside prompting the workforce to question where they want to work, the pandemic has also given rise to a strong sense that the traditional 9-5 is outdated. Instead of being tied to our office desks, we can work in a way that suits us – which can boost our job satisfaction, productivity and morale.

“Many believe hybrid working is the way forward because it combines the best of both worlds,” McLean says. “People have enjoyed many aspects of working from home over the last year. It’s given them more flexibility and, as they’ve been freed from the grind of the daily commute, they’ve had more time for family, exercise, hobbies and sleep. Many have also reported that they’re more productive at home.”

That being said, not everyone has enjoyed the transition to home-working. Some people have found it difficult to juggle home life with the demands of their job, while others have felt isolated and unable to switch off from work.

“With hybrid working the idea is that people will be hyper-productive at home and hyper- collaborative in the office,” says McLean. However, shifting to a hybrid working can take a lot of planning.

“Facilities management, HR and line managers all need to coordinate well. There are also some concerns that it will create a two-tier workplace with an ‘in-crowd’ and an ‘at-home’ crowd that could be divisive,” she adds.

So how can employers make hybrid working a success?

“Choosing the right technology and flexi office space will help to optimise communications, productivity and collaboration. But, the most important factor is getting the culture right,” explains McLean. “Presenteeism is out of the window. Managers need to trust their teams to design their own workday and focus on output and achievements.

“Avoiding an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality is critical and teams will need to bond through frequent communications – both formal reviews and informal conversations.”

Alan Price, HR expert and CEO at the HR software and employment law advice service, BrightHR, says it’s also important to maintain communication with all employees.

“This can be achieved by holding regular weekly/daily meetings with them either in person or remotely. Most importantly, to determine the arrangement’s effectiveness, staff should be given clear targets to work towards, which can be evaluated during these regular meetings,” he says.

“Employers have a duty of care towards their staff and must ensure that the working environment is safe while they are in the office,” Price adds. “This should remain a priority for hybrid staff, as is it for staff fully situated in the workplace and ensuring that they are given support for any mental health issues they may be facing. This support should be accessible both in the workplace and at home.”

In addition, policies and procedures will need to be well-documented and transparent. You can’t just assume people can find out what they need to know by asking a colleague down the corridor.

“Companies will also need to invest time and resources in onboarding and integrating new employees and developing and mentoring all employees – wherever they happen to be working from,” says McLean. “However, the benefits from improved productivity, team morale and employee mental health can make hybrid working worthwhile for many organisations.”

source: https://uk.style.yahoo.com/coronavirus-switch-to-hybrid-working-remote-work-back-to-the-office-164242590.html

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Further findings from this study show that 56% of women do believe their company is attempting to close the gender gap, at the moment this is still mostly half-hearted, which they think needs to change.

Not only should companies be acting on employing more women, they also need to invest time in nurturing their female talent. Diversity and equality are much more than just a number.

One of the most problematic findings from this study, was that women feel it’s harder for them to re-enter the technology industry after a break, and that this is actually detrimental to their career progression. They mentioned feeling that they lack support when re-entering the industry.

Gillian Tans, CEO of Booking.com, commented on this study – “Women bring tremendous value that can positively impact both tech companies and the industry globally and should be part of proactive initiatives focused on inclusivity, retention and skills development.”

Overall, considering more than half of women in the industry are more than happy to get involved and help accelerate their company’s diversity drives, this should be considered more of a priority than it currently is.

What are your thoughts?

If you’re looking for your dream role in tech, get in touch with our specialist teams for a confidential chat today!

Source: https://www.itpro.co.uk/business-strategy/33301/diversity-not-a-company-priority-claim-nearly-half-of-women-in-tech

The post Is Equality a Priority for Tech Firms? appeared first on W.I.T. Republic.

If you’re a beginner, the best advice is to simply learn your language, frameworks, and tools top to bottom and gain more experience with a variety of different projects.

If you’re an experienced software developer, you should constantly try to find new ways to optimize your code for readability, performance, and maintainability, and then practice making well-reasoned decisions about where to focus time and resources in your code—whether it’s testing, performance optimization, or other technical debt.

Those are some of the themes you’ll find if you ask veteran software engineers to share their best advice for being a great programmer. There aren’t any well-kept secrets. The advice of many of the most successful developers is readily available to you on blogs and forums.

Here is the most illustrative advice and recurring tips from blogs and forums, organized into five categories.

Whether you have five, ten, or twenty years of experience programming—or if you have almost no experience— just about every developer will find some good ideas for self-improvement.

Domains, architecture, and design

1. The best programmers can take a complex problem, break it down into smaller pieces, solve each of those pieces, and then put everything back together to solve the initial problem.

2.  Software is just a tool for solving domain problems. Since it’s needed in almost all domains, develop in one that interests you. If you understand a domain well and are passionate about it, you’ll be a much better, more motivated developer. You’ll also be exponentially more valuable and lucrative to companies hiring in your chosen domain.

3.  Don’t let one domain pigeonhole you into one way of coding. An example would be a mobile developer who is mainly good at hooking together existing APIs but can’t come up with a sane data representation. Don’t be a one-trick pony.

4.  Plan your code away from the computer. It will help you build a clear mental model before you start. You use the same strategy in writing, because if you don’t have an outline, your content becomes a messy stream of consciousness.

5.  “When you’re stuck, write your program on paper. I’m serious. It’s magic. This is standard practice in programming competitions. (I think it works because when you don’t have to think about syntax you have more excess brain power to solve the actual problem.)” (Source)
—Joseph Gentle

6.  “Compelling web apps tend to be the ones that use data in unexpected ways or in ways that solve everyday problems. Learn everything you can about data storage.” (Source)
—Maggie Nelson

7.  As an architect, you can’t have blind spots in your understanding of your applications and their execution environments. You need to know how things work in the front end (UI), the back end, the data store, the OS, any virtualization layers, the hardware, the network, and the data center.

Languages, tools, and advancing from beginner to intermediate

8.  Contribute to open-source projects as a bridge from beginner to intermediate. Collaborate with the developers of the project and attend meetups to collaborate with other developers in person.

9.  Don’t let anything get in the way of that initial motivation to learn programming and just build something. Sometimes you block yourself by having too much focus on reading books or resources first. Other times beginners will try to find the perfect first language. Your first language doesn’t matter. What matters is learning to program well. Just start coding.

10.  “Learning programming languages is NOT learning how to program. Focus on programming techniques, problem solving, and analytical skills, not on learning as many languages as you can.”
—Richard Eng

11.  Learn multiple programming paradigms such as object-oriented programming, functional programming, reflective programming, etc. Believe it or not, your programming in one paradigm will improve after studying an alternative paradigm.

12.  “Wherever possible, always choose the simpler programming language. More complex languages increase the cognitive load on your brain. Simpler languages do not necessarily give up anything in terms of power or expressiveness.”
—Richard Eng

13.  Beginners learn just enough of their tools to get by. To become an intermediate or expert developer, you need to know your tools cold. Learn all of the features, menus, and context menus. Learn to use them without a mouse by memorizing keyboard shortcuts. Find every “tips and tricks” article available.

14.  Learn your stack on the deepest levels before you decide to reinvent the wheel. Peter Nixey gives a few good examples: “If you are a Ruby developer take time to learn the language’s incredible range of methods. If you are a Node developer, take time to understand the architecture, the methods, and the mindset of Node. If you are an Angular developer go right up to the rock-face and understand the logic behind of the incredible architecture the core team is forging there right now. Ask before you invent.” (Source)
—Peter Nixey

15.  The same goes for the languages you work in. Learn the most important libraries for your use cases. The more libraries you’re aware of, the less likely you are to try reinventing the wheel.

16.  Whenever you can, use programming languages that will eliminate entire classes of run-time errors. To do that, look for languages with features like strong typing, static typing, managed memory, and/or immutable data.

17.  “Frameworks, libraries, languages, never mind if you can’t understand what you find under the hood on your first attempt. You can always put them aside and return to them later, just see to it that you can take them apart and have a look. All the rules you have to follow when you first learn were invented by someone, you can make them yours to reinvent with some persistence. Steer clear of tools that put barriers in the way of this activity, those make you depend on them in the wrong way.” (Source)
—Jan Christian Meyer

18.  “[When reading high-quality code], it might be tempting to look for main() and start from there, but you’re likely to spend a lot of time just reading set-up code and command-line parsing. I prefer to scan the filenames to look for some activity that interests me and then dig into those files. It’s not crucial to understand the whole project or the ins and outs of the entire design, you’ll wear yourself out doing this. Read the code. Look at the comments, see what the authors are doing, and how they went about it.” (Source)
—Andrew Binstock

19.  Create some of your own tools. (But of course, if you’re going to use it in production, make sure it’s not another wheel reinvention.)

20.  Make common programs that have been made before. Not for a production project (see “reinventing the wheel”), but as a learning project. If other developers can make a calculator, text editor, paint, Tetris, or Pong, then so can you. Look at several examples of these apps written by more experienced developers and try to learn their tricks.

21.  Develop an aesthetic appreciation for code. Read the source code of famous open-source tools and frameworks such as Ruby on Rails or Jenkins, and get familiar with norvig.com. Over time, you need to train yourself to know what great code looks like and what bad code “smells” like.

Code readability and maintainability

22.  “Don’t ask permission to refactor, test, document etc. It’s all part of ‘programming’. Don’t ask permission to do your job.” (Source)
—Jerome Terry

23.  “Fix what isn’t broken. You should go to your last project and read through the code. Think about what each piece does. There’s a loop here, some sorting there, a bit of number crunching, screen updates, HTML generation, database CRUD, that sort of thing. Now replace the hard-coded HTML with a templating system, get the database CRUD out of your business objects and re-write it to use proper parameterized queries instead of string concatenation, replace all the “writelns” and “MessageBoxes” in your error handlers with a logging framework, refactor code that’s trying to borrow methods from other classes, use locale-aware string formatting, stop guessing how big an array should be and use a dynamic collection, delete orphaned code.” (Source)
—Chris Wenham

24.  Most developers have heard the saying, “Always write code as if the person who ends up maintaining it will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.” What that means realistically is that you should write readable code that could be easily comprehended a year later by someone who’s disinterested and in a hurry. If you’ve ever had to dig through indecipherable code, you know why this is so important. Have some empathy for the developers who will read your code.

25.  Name variables so that other developers can understand your code better. This is a skill you need to nurture.

26.  Using inheritance often reduces testability and reusability of your object-oriented code in the long run. Your first choice should be using composition and interfaces.

27.  Don’t use design patterns like a hammer looking for a nail. If you don’t have a clear reason you need it, don’t use it.

28.  Always favor shallow code hierarchies to deep-nested code (whether it’s inside or outside a function). Deep-nested code is harder to maintain, harder to reuse, and more likely to create bugs.

29.  Reusable code is helpful and important, but trying to write overgeneralized, super flexible code is often a waste of time. This kind of code is usually harder to maintain and causes bugs. It’s okay to hardcode some things if your code is doing one task.

30.  Master the art of debugging using “print statements.” There are many scenarios where a sophisticated debugger is not available to you, but I’ve never found a platform nor environment where you couldn’t output textual information to a screen or file.
—Richard Eng

31.  Having great writing and communication skills directly translates into programming capability. Joel Spolsky can elaborate on why this is:
“The difference between a tolerable programmer and a great programmer is not how many programming languages they know, and it’s not whether they prefer Python or Java. It’s whether they can communicate their ideas. By persuading other people, they get leverage. By writing clear comments and technical specs, they let other programmers understand their code, which means other programmers can use and work with their code instead of rewriting it. Absent this, their code is worthless.”

32.  Just like natural languages, you haven’t mastered programming until you see and think in code. A popular book, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Abelson, Sussman, is one of the best resources to help you do this. Don’t worry that its examples are in Scheme; it’s an optimal language for learning to think in code.

Technical debt, code coverage, and process

33.  Donald Knuth, is known for his maxims “When in doubt, use brute force” and “Premature optimization is the root of all evil.” When he says “use brute force,” he means that you shouldn’t let yourself get stuck trying to come up with a prematurely optimal algorithm. Just use the simplest, unsophisticated algorithm that will work and iterate from there. Using the simplest formula will also help you better understand how your software should work so that you can start forming a mental model with which to think of better, more efficient algorithms.

34.  Know when to take on technical debt and when to pay it off so it doesn’t compound. When exploring (and discarding) different features and pivoting frequently, borrow heavily on technical debt. When your position is stable and your direction is clearer, optimize your remaining features and clean up bugs to pay off that technical debt before moving on to the next stage.

35.  Within the context of your projects, learn what the right amount of testing is. Too little and your software becomes unreliable and everyone is afraid to deploy to production. Too much and you’ll end up wasting too much time and resources writing and maintaining them, while also making the development process slower.

36.  Estimating time is hard. This is why iterative development methods such as Scrum are so popular. Push yourself and your team to have increasingly shorter release cycles. Surprisingly, shipping code more frequently reduces risk instead of increasing it. It forces you to have better organizational practices and make a better product for the customer with faster feedback.

37.  Commit your code in small, working chunks and write a detailed commit messages that will help developers find and understand bugs that may have been introduced in that commit. Just summarize what you did and why you did it.

38.  Most developers don’t think about security in every unit of code they write. Many think that frameworks will handle that for them. Don’t be like most developers.

39.  You can spend an exponentially greater amount of time hunting down the last 1% of bugs in a project than you would for the first 90%. If you’re not working in a domain that requires your software to work perfectly 99.999% of the time, then you should spend less time debugging the edge cases and features people probably won’t use.

Soft skills and productivity

40. Have large chunks of time set aside for focused coding each day. The quantity of time spent coding is meaningless if it’s full of interruptions such as meetings, emails, and web browsing.

41.  Communicate clearly with your team about what you’re doing each day. Talking about your architectural approaches will help you think about those approaches in new ways. It has nothing to do with proving to people that you’re doing good work. More likely, your team will have some ideas you would have never thought of on your own, and you’ll solve problems a lot faster. Your team should also document solutions and share them on a wiki to save valuable time for everyone.

42.  Don’t be ashamed to admit when you don’t know something. As a developer, you’re often solving new problems, so you can’t be expected to know all the solutions immediately. Trying to hide your lack of knowledge only slows the learning process.

43.  Don’t be afraid to share your unfinished work with others frequently.

44.  “Emotionally detach from your code. Find the code that you’re the most proud of and delete it, then rewrite it from scratch in a different way. Use a “design pattern” that confuses you or that you hate (e.g., the Singleton) and figure out how to make it work. If necessary, delete that after you’ve got it working and try again with a new pattern or language. Not only will you learn that there’s More Than One Way To Do It, but you’ll learn that your code is transitory. Code, by its nature, is not just inextricably glued to its language, platform, and the APIs it consumes, but written in the form of ephemeral static charges, orientations of magnetic particles, subject to the whims of the market, Moore’s Law, and your employer. … Remember that emotional detachment from code is a virtue, but this doesn’t mean emotional detachment from your work is, too. In fact, another way to become emotionally detached from code is to put your interest into the outcome instead.” (Source)
—Chris Wenham

45.  Googling is a crucial developer skill. Learning how to do something you haven’t done before and finding optimal solutions from the collective intelligence of the developer community is half the battle in programming.

46.  “Good programmers know what to write, but great ones know what to rewrite (and reuse).” (Source)
—Eric S. Raymond

47.  Teach. Even if you’re a novice at programming, you’re knowledgeable about something. Teaching teaches the teacher. And if you can train other workers, your manager should realize that you’re exponentially more valuable.

48.  Don’t focus on becoming a “10x” programmer. Read these articles by Matt Asay and Scott Hanselman to see why.

49.  “You won’t—you cannot—become a better programmer through sheer force of programming alone. You can only complement and enhance your existing programming skills by branching out. Learn about your users. Learn about the industry. Learn about your business. The more things you are interested in, the better your work will be.” (Source)
—Jeff Atwood

50.  Make mistakes, ask questions, get rapid feedback, get uncomfortable, compare it to what you know, keep going. More on that here.

Additional resources and comments

Here are some books and other resources that were referenced multiple times by programmers giving advice for how to get better:

• Rich Hickey’s talk Simple Made Easy
• Kent Beck’s article XP Simplicity Rules
• Jim McCarthy’s book Dynamics of Software Development
• Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas’ book The Pragmatic Programmer

Take a look at some of these and then maybe pick some of your favorite pieces of advice from this article to create a tentative checklist for your personal growth.

Share some of your own advice in the comments below or tell us about some advice here that you really liked or disliked.

source: https://techbeacon.com/app-dev-testing/50-tips-improving-your-software-development-game

The post Top Tips for Enhancing Your Career In Software Development appeared first on W.I.T. Republic.

With forward-thinking ideas and a combination of technologies, companies create and deliver unique value to their customers, optimize internal operations, gain a competitive advantage and improve business performance. So here are some biggest software development trends for 2021.

Cloud Storage

Pandemic has shifted many processes to remote, and there is a necessity in storing data in the cloud. The cloud is a forerunner industry that grows stronger than ever recently. No matter what industry you are in, plan to migrate to the cloud, as the whole world will sooner or later move to the cloud. In 2021 and beyond, there will be a high demand for cloud engineers.

VR, AR, and MR

No surprise these technologies will be in demand, as many processes are becoming virtual. Even the industry embraced VR technologies, bringing visitors the opportunity to visit events from anywhere. There will be more gadgets with VR, AR, and MR support in 2020. In particular, thanks to the release of more powerful smartphones: the emergence of new processors, folding screens, robust sensors, support for 5G. In the coming years, a new category of AR products will enter the market — holographic screens.

Artificial Intelligence

As one of the most popular technologies globally, AI has also made many breakthroughs in 2020. “AI for all” is a famous slogan that signifies how AI is becoming closer to all industries. AI can paint, talk, and more. In natural language processing, GPT-3 was the most significant breakthrough to come in May 2020. The American company OpenAI created GPT-3, which made it possible to develop human text using deep learning. Only four months later, the entire world was simultaneously amazed and shocked when the following Guardian article was written using GPT-3. In 2021, there will be a breakthrough in natural language processing when AI will write articles, paint, or write small programs.

Python and JavaScript

The landscape of programming languages ​​has also undergone significant changes in recent years. Traditional heavyweight programming languages ​​are losing market share in favor of simpler, developer-friendly programming languages. According to various reviews, the languages ​​in demand and ranked Python and JavaScript first and second, respectively.

Python is the number one programming language in data science and the number 2 or number 3 in almost every field other than low-level programming.

JavaScript is the undisputed number one language in web development and is becoming increasingly popular in other areas, including backend development. It is also the perfect language for beginners.

Cyber Threats

The more online activities we have, the more cyber threats we experience. Hackers will attack government networks more often. Organizations that do not have powerful cyber defense, but that valuable store data (access to state registries, databases) are becoming targets of criminals.

Cloud solutions are becoming a target for hackers. As services evolve, they are increasingly attacked by threats. Most decisions of large companies, such as Google, are automatically trusted by users, which increases the risk of being exposed to fraud.

Native apps will continue to dominate

The use of smartphones is increasing, and there are also trends in mobile app development.

There are four main areas in mobile app development:

● Native app development

● Cross-platform app development

● Hybrid app development

● Cloud-based app development

Developing your applications provides the most excellent flexibility while maximizing performance and usability. But it’s the most expensive to develop because businesses need to keep two separate teams.

Cross-platform app development is becoming more popular as almost the same codebase can be used to develop iOS and Android apps. Although the development cost is low, it is less flexible and not as productive as native applications.

Bottom line

These are the most common trends for software development, but the industry itself and its trends are hard to cover in one article. In few words, the main trends are cloud, data security, top-notch technologies like AI and VR, and native app development.

source: https://medium.com/predict/software-development-trends-and-predictions-in-2021-cd6b41ae3955

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Jo highlights that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach that businesses can implement in order to increase diversity in tech.

To listen to the full interview, watch the video below!

Third Republic (TR): Could you tell us about how you got into a career in tech and where it all started?

Jo Stansfield (JS): When I went to university, I studied physics and tried to weave in as much computer science as possible, there was one project that completely nailed my interest in tech; from that moment on I knew what I wanted to do. We had to build a simulation of two galaxies colliding, which combined my physics interest with my desire to learn more about computers and solve real-world problems. It made me realise that computer software is such a powerful tool; you can explore things that you could never actually do in real life and find answers to big, challenging questions.

My first job was in an engineering firm. I was working in a defense company doing simulated battlefields, it was fascinating; to understand the factors in that environment which mean something is either effective or not effective. It was an amazing first job which really set the scene for the rest of my career because I had such broad responsibilities. As well as writing the software, I was analyzing output and project managing, so it really gave me a broad coverage of skills.

TR: What do you think businesses can do to encourage more women to get involved in tech?

JS: That’s an interesting one because I think there are two sides to that question. There are lots of things that businesses can do to look more attractive but it’s important that businesses take responsibility to actually be a better place for women to work as well.

In terms of highlighting what’s attractive about the business, I think role models are really important; showing women who people can relate to doing a whole range of jobs really helps to inspire and open up imagination to possibilities. That can be through career events, or it could be outreach in schools. Even in the way that they present themselves online through their websites.

But the company culture internally also has to be a good place for women to work, otherwise, it’s unethical. It’s really important to be focusing on what the business can do to build a place where women have got equal progression opportunities, equal fulfilment in their careers. The goal is that you enter into that virtuous cycle where women in the company become advocates for the company.

TR: What have you found to be your biggest challenge when starting out in your career in software engineering?

JS: I had a tough time finding what my next role would be after the aerospace firm. I was looking what felt like ages for a role that would work with me. I was making lots of applications but getting lots of rejections saying; ‘we love what your CV says, but you’ve not got enough experience’. I’m sure this is a familiar feeling, to lots of people early in their careers, but how do you get that foot on the rung to actually get enough experience that they’ll take you seriously even for a junior role? I ended up taking a job that I did have some doubts about, but it did tick the box of experience. Whilst it wasn’t what I was looking for, it did give me that experience I could talk about in my interviews. It was a learning experience and helped me to focus with future jobs for what I found important.

TR: What was it that made you transition from software engineering into diversity, and becoming a global lead in the space?

JS: It’s quite a long path between being a software engineer and being what I am now. Many, many years in the interim; I developed my career as a software engineer and then became a product manager. Over time, I was getting much more interested in the interplay between people and products; having that higher level view of how this product is satisfying the needs of customers.

But the thing that was really the trigger moment, was when I went on maternity leave. I’d been quite used to working in an industry where there were not many women and sometimes, I felt like being the only woman in the team helped me to stand out a bit. But when I was on maternity leave it changed my attitude completely. I’d been busy thinking, ‘other women just aren’t like me, this isn’t the kind of thing that they like’. Then on maternity leave, I met a whole bunch of women who were doing tech jobs and it just dawned on me; women are amazing. It struck me as completely absurd that I was sitting in baby groups, and it was then that I met women who have similar interests to me rather than in my professional life.

There’s clearly women out there who are interested in tech and extraordinarily capable. So why do we not see any of them in work? Roll forwards a couple of years, I was beginning to take more leadership responsibility at work. It occurred to me that I’d really love to learn a lot more deeply about the things that were becoming important to me. I signed up to take a master’s degree online, in organizational and business psychology, so that I could have a really rigorous basis to my understanding about why this is happening.

Businesses are getting much more aware now, actually, of the importance of having diversity and inclusion, and really casting the net a lot wider to find talented people. It needs to start at the top and ripple down, really, and from what I see, there’s loads of good intention there. But lots and lots of implementation still to happen.

TR: What do you think the benefits are of being a mentor for women in tech?

JS: I’ve been a mentor for a couple of women over the past few years. It’s immensely personally fulfilling, and I was surprised just how helpful my experience could be to somebody else. I was involved in a programme called TechUp for women, which is run by a few universities in the north of England led by Professor Sue Black.

It was a phenomenal experience, seeing somebody come to understand new technologies, learn new skills, and to be able to give them advice on how their previous experience might relate to their current role. I’d massively recommend it to anybody. I’d say that the mentors that are most helpful are often the people that who are only a step above their mentee, as they are somebody you can aspire to be.

TR: What do you think, are the most effective diversity initiatives that businesses could implement to help encourage a more diverse workplace?

JS: The advice I’d give an organisation is to start off by understanding where they’re at, take a step back, and really use the data that they’ve got about their employees – if you haven’t got that data, run some focus groups, some interviews – to understand what it’s like for diverse people within the organisation. Then to understand as an organisation, how does improving diversity and inclusion align to the business goals? From there, build a strategy that’s going to take you in the direction towards what you want to achieve. That strategy and understanding of where we are and where we want to be, is where the most effective initiatives come from.

TR: What is the best piece of advice you’ve received that has stayed with you, throughout your career?

JS: When I become a Head of Product, I had a coach who was extremely helpful. At the time I was having quite a lot of conflict at work, and he really helped me to frame the situation differently. To look at the way I was feeling, not as something about the situation, but about something that I can control. The situation happens, that’s how it is, but my reaction is down to me. To be bit more introspective to say, ‘What is it that I need that I’m not getting? I don’t need to control the whole situation; I can just identify what do I need to change so that I’m having this particular need met. It’s also the same when working with others; what are they needing that’s not happening for them in this situation, and then helping them.

If you would like to join Jo in our #WomenInTechQA series, get in touch today!

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What are DevOps Metrics?

DevOps transformation requires organizations to invest a lot of time, money, and resources, revisiting everything from communication and training to tools. The ability to clearly and accurately assess DevOps metrics and performance benchmarks is critical to defining goals, improving efficiency, and tracking success.

The choice of key performance indicators for a DevOps initiative depends on the specific challenges and requirements of the company. DevOps KPIs should provide a comprehensive view of business value and impact of the transformation. The right performance metrics can evaluate the value of existing work done, and guide future process and technology decisions.

Characteristics of Useful DevOps Metrics

Here are five characteristics of a good DevOps indicator, which can help you provide insights about the progress of a DevOps initiative or the performance of DevOps teams:

• Measurable—metrics must have standardized values that are consistent over time.
• Relevant—metrics should measure aspects that are important to the business.
• Reliable—team members cannot affect or “game” the measurement.
• Actionable—long-term analysis of the metric should provide insights into possible improvements in systems, workflows, strategies, etc.
• Traceable—the metrics should point directly to a root cause, not just allude to a general problem.

Don’t track DevOps metrics that are:

• Based on non-DevOps values—for example, metrics that measure adherence to requirements are more suited for a waterfall development environment. 
• Based on competition—if the best performers are the “winners” and everyone else “loses”, it is difficult to expect communication and collaboration within and between teams. Don’t build metrics based on competition between team members or between teams (e.g. number of failed builds or fatal errors). Teams will become obsessed with improving the metric, rather than discovering real problems and working together to resolve them.
• Vanity metrics—metrics must support teamwork. Vanity metrics indicate some capability, but are not really indicative of business effectiveness. For example, the number of lines of code written each week is irrelevant because code can disappear completely during refactoring, and sometimes less code is better for the organization. The number of builds per day doesn’t matter, unless each build really adds value to the end user experience.

6 Key DevOps Metrics

The following six metrics can be important for measuring DevOps performance and progress in most organizations.

1. Lead Time

The time it takes to implement, test, and deliver code. To measure delivery time, the team must clearly define the start and end of the work (e.g. measurable time from code commitment to production deployment). The goal is to speed up deployment through automation and reduce overall deployment time, for example by optimizing test integration and automation.

2. Deployment Frequency

The number of software deployments over a period of time. It can be measured in a variety of ways, including automated deployment pipelines, API calls, and manual scripts. 

This metric has to do with technical performance of the deployment pipeline, not frequency of delivery, because not all deployments are pushed to production. However, more frequent deployments can reduce errors associated with failed deployments, which affect overall customer satisfaction. 

3. Change Failure Rate

Improving velocity seems to be one of the ultimate goals of a DevOps initiative, but it should be assessed along with failure rates. Frequent failures of changes that are deployed to production can ultimately lead to unsatisfied customers.

If KPIs show a higher rate of failure as deployments increase, it’s time to slow down and investigate issues in the development and deployment pipeline.

4. Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)

In DevOps metrics, this indicator tracks how long it will take the organization to recover from failure. It is a key business indicator because it reflects the ability to minimize disruption and recover normal operations quickly. It is usually measured in minutes or hours, and can sometimes refer to time during business days, not clock time. 

To reduce MTTR, it is important to have the right application monitoring tools, as well as effective collaboration between operations and developers, which can help you find root causes and deploy solutions quickly.

5. Customer Ticket Volume

This metric is a measure of end user satisfaction. As mentioned earlier, bugs and errors can often bypass the testing phase and be detected by the end user. Customers will then contact support and share their feedback. 

Therefore, the number of customer tickets marked as problems or bugs are an important indicator of application reliability. A large number of tickets indicates quality issues, while a small number indicates robustness of the application.

6. Defect Escape Rate

Even with a great DevOps pipeline, defects will occur. In some cases, these defects may be detected during development or testing phases of the pipeline. But in the worst case, they will pass tests and be detected by end users.

The defect escape rate reflects the number of defects found in production during and after deployment. It identifies cracks in the software development process—defects slide through these cracks and indicates that the quality process should be optimized and tightened.

Conclusion

DevOps programs can deliver huge benefits to organizations, but are complex and expensive to implement. DevOps metrics are needed to understand how DevOps teams are performing, and whether the effort to implement DevOps is really paying off. I explained how to select good metrics for a DevOps initiative, and covered six metrics that can be useful for most organizations:

• Lead time—the time needed to push new changes to production
• Deployment frequency—how often builds are deployed to an environment
• Change failure rate—how many changes result in defects
• MTTR—time required to recover from failure
• Customer tickets—how many problems are filed by customers as support tickets
• Defect escape rate—how many quality issues make their way to production

source: https://www.codemotion.com/magazine/dev-hub/devops-engineer/best-devops-metrics/

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Read on to find out which programming language better suits your project.

What is .NET used for?

.NET is a framework that can be used to create web and mobile applications, games, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications. .NET has several uses, including:

Applications: .NET is used in developing applications and websites. This framework is designed to create products that work quickly and efficiently run on any device. Using .NET, you can create an application that is used and synchronized with many platforms simultaneously.

Architecture: .NET has multi-tier software architecture. This web application framework supports application processing and data management. It is also used to create flexible applications and allows adding or editing a code layer without disrupting the entire application.

Efficiency: one of the advantages of using .NET is the efficiency of created web applications. This technology saves time and other resources during the software & application development process. .NET has been designed with a certain flexibility in mind that enables creating universal code easy to be used in future development without the necessity of rewriting it. Thanks to this, the application is created faster, cheaper, and it is also lighter. .NET streamlines all software development processes – from production through testing and final implementation.

The .NET framework can also be used for:

• web services,
• native apps for Android or iOS,
• cross-platform tools,
• connecting both SQL and noSQL databases.

.NET 5 vs. .NET Framework for server applications

There are two supported implementations for building server-side applications within this technology: .NET Framework and .NET 5 (including .NET Core), with .NET being the software framework and .NET Core being a free open source, and general-purpose development platform. However, there are fundamental differences between them, and the choice depends on what you want to achieve. This article guides when to use the .NET 5 and .NET open source framework.

Use .NET 5 for server applications when:

• There are multi-platform requirements,
• They are targeted at microservices,
• You are using Docker containers,
• You need high performance and scalability of your systems,
• You must have a parallel .NET version for each application.

Use .NET Framework for server applications when:

• Your application is currently using the .NET Framework (it is recommended to upgrade instead of migrating),
• Your application uses third-party .NET libraries or NuGet packages not available for .NET 5,
• Your application uses .NET technologies that are not available for .NET 5,
• The application uses a platform that does not support .NET 5.

What is Java used for?

Java vs .NET – which one is better? Java is an all-purpose programming language. It’s easily portable as the cross-platform Java Virtual Machine interprets it. However, running a Java app is not always that simple – it mainly depends on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) presence. Java is portable in areas not related to creating a user interface, interacting with the operating system, or hardware.

This programming  language is suitable for writing both small and larger apps. This language is often used in banking systems, and thanks to Oracle Java Embedded, might be a base for  VOIP phones, SIM cards, or energy meters applications.

The biggest benefit of using Java is its extensive ecosystem. It consists of a large number of ready-to-use libraries and solutions. As a result, Java can be efficiently integrated with Google, Facebook, or other popular apps. The Java ecosystem also includes a huge community ready to help.

.NET vs Java: Is .NET easier than Java?

Well, it depends. The truth is that Java and .NET are very similar on both programming and difficulty level. It is also worth mentioning that these two programming languages are similar in terms of available libraries, memory and performance. It cannot be clearly stated which language is easier. When it comes to .NET vs Java: it depends mainly on the specifics of the application and what should be the end result, as well as the technological and business requirements.

Java vs .NET: is .NET outdated?

.NET is a mature and robust framework supported by .NET Core and Xamarin. Recent updates make platforms more reliable, flexible, faster, and above all – more secure. Choosing .NET developers to implement business functions will allow you to overcome various challenges, primarily the security of created applications. It is a programming language with an extensive library and community, so developing new products is smooth and enjoyable.

.NET is the perfect choice for applications and solutions that need large scale in the future – this is possible thanks to the flexibility that adapts to the enterprise’s infrastructure and scale. Using .NET, you can create iOS and Android applications and IoT, Machine Learning, Big Data, and AI.

Moreover, it is worth remembering that .NET 5 is continually evolving. One might say that the .NET 5 improvements are a step towards the better .NET Core. The developers of .NET Core aim to create a unified framework that can be used anywhere.

.NET 5: new features

Single-File Applications: This feature allows .NET applications to be made as available as a single file. According to the developers, this solution should be compatible with most programs, applications, debuggers, and compilers.

JsonSerializer: Here, the improvement is to increase performance and stability. A bonus is the ability to support more platforms and new C # records.

Performance: .NET 5 has many performance improvements, including a just-in-time compiler and fixes for various .NET features.

Is Java a .NET language?

Many people wonder if Java is a .NET language. It’s good to know that Java defines both the language and the framework. In turn, .NET is a platform, which includes many languages, such as VB .NET, C #, F #, and many more. So the difference between Java and .NET is mainly in the semantics.

Is Java better than C#?

Java is still developing, creating not only new frameworks but also tools and libraries. New languages such as Groovy, Scala and more are also emerging from the JVM. Additionally, it is also the most popular language for developing Android applications.

On the other hand, C # is mostly used in the .NET, Mono, and other systems.

The choice between Java and C # depends on the product and business goals as both languages are similar. Ultimately, this decision will depend on language ease of use, library compatibility, maintenance, individual requirements and development skills.

source: https://codibly.com/news-insights/net-vs-java-which-programming-language-choose-for-software-development/

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Ania also mentions how she joined the Geek Girl initiative and started her own YouTube channel.

To hear the full conversation, watch the video below!

Third Republic (TR): Your journey into tech is an interesting one, could you tell us a bit about how you got to where you are today within your career?

Ania Kubow (AK): Yeah, definitely! I’m a software developer and I also have my own YouTube channel. I wasn’t always a software developer I actually started out in finance, I was a derivates broker, started out in Singapore and then moved to London. Which was great, but it just wasn’t for me; there was something missing.

I then started my own company; an e-commerce website. This was back when WIX and Weebly and all these sites weren’t really around, I had to use other template websites which weren’t really that great, they were very limiting and I didn’t like that. So I took it upon myself to perfect the branding and the visual presence that we had online by altering the CHS, HTML, and then I was hooked. By accident I found my calling. I did a few JavaScript courses online and then decided to finally take the plunge after a while and do a bootcamp in London – General Assembly – which was really good. Now I am currently employed at Eurostar.

TR: There’s still a disparity within the tech industry when it comes to gender, why do you think there are fewer women working within the tech industry?

AK: I think tech is a very difficult one, especially something like software engineering. For me, for example, it just wasn’t really a career path that was spoken about. Even at universities they only offer computer science, where the software development aspect might not be as big. Software development is something that people discover later on in life. But I do think there is a bit more attention being put towards it now with all the bootcamps that are coming out, especially in London.

From my YouTube channel I can tell you that about 90% of my viewers are male – I’ve got 8% female and that’s apparently high. But I do think the times are changing.

TR: How do you think the industry could tackle the lack of female role models within tech?

AK: I think having role models is great and that’s something that should be celebrated, not just female role models but anyone from a different background.

There’s also a lot of unconscious bias. The company I currently work for are extremely good at making you aware of unconscious bias, with every new starter into the company there’s a whole course on it. Having those conversations is the first step and recognizing your own unconscious bias because everyone has them.

Then opening up a platform where people are welcome and encouraged to speak, actively seeking out people who aren’t just the ‘stereotypical developer’.

TR: You’re the Co-Organizer of a meetup group called Geek Girl, how do you think groups like this can improve diversity within tech?

AK: Geek Girl meetup is fantastic! It actually started in Sweden in 2006, it’s been going for a long time and they have boroughs all over the world – there’s even one in Dubai that’s been started up.

Magda is the girl who started the Geek Girl ‘tribe’ in London, and I was lucky enough to join as a Co-Organizer three years ago now. I really wanted to join because I was just starting out my career in tech, didn’t really know the community very well, and I really wanted to be involved. I guess, first of all, quite selfishly because I wanted to learn more about tech but then it quickly changed, and it was all about giving back to the community. If a community is so welcoming to you and so willing to help you out, you naturally just want to give back.

TR: What initiatives do you think businesses could implement to attract and retain female tech professionals into their teams? With that, what should they be avoiding?

AK: I know a couple of bootcamps offer scholarships, so I think that’s a good initiative. I think always making it easier for, not just women but people from more diverse backgrounds to get involved, is to offer scholarships because then the opportunity opens to a wider pool of people who perhaps couldn’t afford the rates before.

Of course, reaching out and giving more presentations at universities, at schools, to make younger people realise that this is a career path and highlight relatable role models. Simply things like that are most effective. Listening to someone talk about something passionately, that you can relate to, is so powerful.

TR: What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve received throughout your career?

AK: One piece of advice I did follow was to go out there and make a community for yourself. Create a space where you feel comfortable to ask questions. In software development I think there is a stigma around asking questions, where everyone feels they need to be the smartest person in the room. If you do feel uncomfortable asking a question at work, it’s nice to have that community that you’ve built, which is a safe space to ask questions. Asking questions is the only way to fast track your knowledge.

Someone also told me to start a YouTube channel and at first I wasn’t quite sure, but it is probably the best thing I have ever done for myself. Talking through a solution and actually having to explain to someone how to do something is a really strong skill to have. To be technically sound in explaining a problem, is something that I think has really helped me as well. In turn it became really rewarding. I’m able to help so many people.

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