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Top comments (292)
Hey folks, I would like to reintroduce myself. I have actually been a member of DEV since almost the beginning (To the best of my knowledge, DEV launched in October 2016 and I joined in February). I am currently a Developer Experience Engineer at LaunchDarkly. I've been in developer relations (aka DevRel) for about 12 years and before that a developer for over decade.
I also run a bunch of my own communities, both in-person and virtual. I run CFE.dev, which hosts free virtual presentations, interviews, conferences and workshops. If you are in the Orlando, Florida, area, I run OrlandoDevs, which is the largest developer meetup in the area but also a not-for-profit working to help develop and support the Orlando developer community.
Best place to find me on social nowadays is on Mastodon.
Exciting to re-welcome a long time member :)
You had some (very fair) feedback on Twitter a while back about our spam problem which had begun really flaring up in Mid-2022. Just wanted to mention that I appreciate you sharing your thoughts at that point, and sticking around in general. We actually shared your tweet internally at that point with the team as extra motivation to rally folks around tackling the problem.
We've been working hard on this problem and have been making some really solid strides.
Thanks again 👋
Thanks. You all have done a ton to improve that situation and I can imagine how difficult it must be to manage having such a large community. I've continued to be a big fan and participate but it's even more enjoyable now that this has improved so much.
Impressed.......
Wohoo! Welcome back. Like you I was also there during the beginning. I think at the time it was per invitation? I don't remember anymore.
I used LaunchDarkly before. Nice tool!
Great to have you back (and I love the cfe.dev domain as well)!
Hello 👋
hello
Hello DEV community!
I’m Andrew and I’m currently an unemployed developer with about 5 years of work experience. I recently got laid off in April but have been in good spirits and trying to take this time to improve. I enrolled in a boot camp in 2017 with an emphasis in Full Stack Development. After that I spent a year in IT development and 4 years shifting between web and iOS development. While my last job was enjoyable in terms of culture and benefits, I had a hard time feeling secure since I wasn’t tied down to one language.
I trained in C#, worked in VB.Net and a little Python at my first job, then switched between PHP, Liquid, Swift, and a little React at my second job. I know now I shouldn’t worry that about learning multiple languages. My plan is to focus on the one I feel strongest in and hope to translate the fundamentals into another that I want to explore. I still have imposter syndrome galore when trying to learn l, which makes me anxious but I know if I focus hard on one project, I can make it through.
Part of me wants to explore game development since I do have a love of video games but I know I want to break out of this brain fog first. I have a love for geek culture, books, animation, games, and animals. Would love to hear if anyone has similar interests and if you have ideas of how you implement that into your work.
Thanks folks!
Hey Andrew, welcome to DEV. I have been learning to code since first year of my college. Honestly I don't have any advice to give but will say go get that job first, I'm sure you'll find one soon. I can relate to your interest for game dev. I started with basic web development and then for 6 months tried game development. But later dropped game dev. I also loved video games from early childhood but the bad things I've heard about the work culture in gaming industry changed my mind. Also I was confused should I go this path, will I be able to make huge impact. Definitely will try to build a game sometime again in free time and see how it goes.
Hi!
I'm also a fan of geek culture, and so I understand your interest towards game development.
Unfortunatly, I don't have any tips for you as I learned coding as a hobby, and thus don't know much about the job market.
However, I hope you are able to find your true potential, and don't worry about trying different things before choosing your true calling.
hey Andrew, welcome to the community!
Welcome to DEV!!
Hi Andrew!
Keep your head up. With your experience it will work out eventually. What’s the language you are strongest in?
I feel strongest in PHP and JavaScript. At my last job, we were pretty short handed when it came to devs so I was brought in to help with iOS apps as well. Can't really say I was in love with learning Swift however.
This is great. Thanks for sharing.
Don't feel too down about being laid off, you'll do better and land in a better job when you decide what you're ready to do and what language you choose to focus on. Good luck mate!
Welcome to DEV!
Almost! In the same situation!
Helllloooo there! 👋🏽
My name is Rita Bradley and I've actually been here for a while. I don't utilize the platform as often as I should though, so I'm hoping to start changing that. The reason I don't use the platform is I guess I feel I don't have much to offer the DEV community at large since I took a long break from development, and now spend my time trying to relearn things and catch up to the current state of development.
I'd consider myself a veteran beginner. 😆 I know stuff, but feel like I don't know anything, if that even makes sense. Before my sabbatical, I worked front-end for two different companies and loved it, but these days I'm trying to focus my efforts on being a Fullstack JavaScript Developer with a particular interest in home automation and cybersecurity. I feel like those two things REALLY go hand in hand. I wanna have cool gadgets to automate my home, but I also don't want those gadgets hacked and now I end up locked out of my house with the alarm going off and music blaring.
When I'm not having an existential crisis over my imposter syndrome and extreme introversion, I can be found binge watching true crime documentaries, getting fat off my own cooking, and playing with my dog. I've also tried my hand at maintaining houseplants, with my ultimate goal of having a place where I can have a full blown garden.
I'm not really sure what to write about on here (or anywhere really), but I'll definitely start putting forth more of an effort to contribute instead of just reading/liking articles. If you made it to the end, thanks for reading. Hope to interact with y'all again very soon.
Hey Rita! I know ya said you haven't written much on DEV yet — that's no worries at all... but, I just wanted to say that your writing is super entertaining and when you mentioned your interest in home automation that definitely caught my attention!
I love reading personal stories about folks hacking away at their smart home set up. You said you like gardening which makes me think of the series Greenhouse Telemetry by @rossdrew. Anyway, if ya get ito writing more it might be a good inspiration!
You may also dig checking out @devdevcharlie's writing. While I don't know if I'd always call it home automation, she writes so many cool makerly articles — controlling devices in the physical world and stuff like that.
Charlie Gerard
You definitely got a strong natural written voice and I hope you continue to flex those skills here on DEV whether it's in a full blown post or just through interacting with others in comments.
@michaeltharrington Thanks so much for the kind words and the resources/inspiration! I’ll be sure to check them out very soon. I think there was an episode of Mr. Robot where they hacked some lady’s security system and then partied in her house, and I was like… “We’ll this show already has me wanting to be a hacker, and I work for a home automation company… why not try both?” And then I went on to pursue neither one lol.
Maybe it’s time I get my crap together.
Oh, it's nice to hear someones reading my stuff @michaeltharrington, if that interested you I would recommend a friend of mines similar post; Neil Galls Pirragor Series.
Woot! Heck yeah. So nice to hear from ya here, Ross. That really was a great series you wrote up and this one of Neil's looks awesome as well.
And hmmm... might be cool to collect all these automated gardening posts together so folks can check them out. I'm gonna keep that idea in my back pocket for the future. 🌱
Been meaning to get back to it. I have so much more to say but not much time to tidy everything up ready for a post. Too busy growing chillies & tomatoes :P
What kind of chile peppers and tomatoes are you growing? I live where I can’t plant anything in the ground, so I garden vicariously through others. Haha
I don't plant in the ground. I grow them in pots. Currently I'm growing gardeners delight & tigerella tomatoes and jalepeno, cayenne, habanero, scotch bonnet and carolina reaper peppers.
Yum!! I'm all about the spicy peppers. We got some jalapeno, habanero, and poblano peppers growing in buckets right now. Bring on the heat! 🌶
I've ramped up over the years from Jalepenos (which I use to smoke my own chipotles) through cayennes and added more and more spicy varieties as I've gone. Ultimately they all end up in hot sauce experiments.
Hey Rita , welcome to dev
Its totally fine having imposter sydrome as a beginner , even people with years of experience feel this at one time or the other - what i mean to say is its totally fine to have it though you should not let that come in between your learning and exploration .
Learn something everyday and keep going .thats the part of this game and when you look back and reflect - you would see yourself at much better place than you used to .
so yeah have fun , learn , explore what you are interested in and i am sure you would love it .
Fullstack js developer feels like a great option to me .
@__junaidshah Thanks for the welcome! Like I said, I’ve been here for a few years actually, I just rarely post or comment and I just read/like articles. I also already have 5-6 years of development experience under my belt, but taking a break for my mental health kind of gave me a new world to explore in and catch up on so it’s like a rebirth almost ya know?
If after all this time I still feel like an imposter among us devs, I’m sure I’ll always feel that way. Haha. I actually saw a tweet from Tejas Kumar touching on the subject and he’s been at this for forever. So I get it, I just sincerely hope it gets easier over time.
I totally felt the same way when I joined Dev.to, but you have a unique story and perspective meaning you have plenty to offer - be it through posts, comments, or encouragement! 💖
Thank you so much. I think a lot of times I just get writer’s block and haven’t the foggiest idea what to write about. Then I start worrying about things that haven’t happened yet like how to transfer a post from here to my personal blog or vice versa when the reality is, I don’t even have my personal blog set up yet haha.
I think for now I’ll just engage more in the comment section until I feel more confident.
Looking forward to it!
Your use of bolding to make sure your writing is accessible at a glance makes me think you'll do well writing here 😆
Well that just made my day! 🥹Thank you so much!
I am also full stack JS and I am starting to play with electronics for home automation, amongst other things like MIDI controllers.
Nice to meet you!
Welcome everyone!
Please consider hunting down a post you find valuable and leave a thankful comment.
🫡
Hello everybody, I'm a Brazillian PHP developer looking for networking and more knowledge in fullstack development.
Welcome!
Welcome to DEV, Chico.
Good to have you here.
welcome to the community Chico!
Welcome to DEV!!
Hi! Im Tasha a teacher learning code on the side to launch into a second career. It is taking me a while but I know it will be worth it and also I am interested to see how web development will grow and chanfge as a result of AI.
Hi Tasha! Welcome to Dev.to and huge congrats on starting your coding journey! 💖 If you're ever looking for inspo stories, the founder of FreeCodeCamp.org also was a teacher (I think he taught English?) who learned to code - def check out his story if you haven't!
Hey Tasha. Good to have you here.
So cool that you are a teacher but also learning to code. I can see AI helping web development become more expressive and creative.
Hello there,
I am Robin Kumar and I am form India currently I am a college student and I am in 3rd year of my college and I am a student of computer science and engineering and I am love to code and development also I want to go inside the game 🎮 development industry
I also like to play basketball 🏀 for fun fact 🫠🫠
Github link :- github.com/RobinKumar5986
Hey @robinkumar5986
Welcome to dev community 🎉
Explore our community, share your experiences, learn from others experience, grow your network
I appreciate 😊
Hey there Dev.to!
I suppose I never did one of these when I joined either... I am a Software Engineer at Microsoft! Been doing mostly JavaScript, but also C# and even (if you can believe it), ColdFusion back when I graduated from MTSU here outside of Nashville, TN 13 years ago. We're still here in Nashville, and I work remotely with a team of amazing folks from all over the globe including Vancouver, Redmond, Oslo, Nairobi, and Hyderabad.
Over the last 5 years I've gotten really involved in the JavaScript tooling space, what we like to call "". It's a super fun area to be involved in since it's such a hybrid of work involving CI/CD, infrastructure, application architecture, bundlers, transpilers, linters, and so much more. I'm a huge fan of Typescript as well!
I tweet @jcreamer898, am here on Dev.to, as well as x-posting on my own personal blog jonathancreamer.com/.
Definitely stay in touch! I love being involved in the community, and am on a continual learning, and networking journey.
Ghost good cms for dev bloggers. By the way which hosting you are using?
Oww, Microsoft. Good good.
Hi, I am Tcg, I am an engineer, mom of two teens, that is looking for her next career. In another year both our kids will be in college (or at least out of highschool!) My first career as an environmental/civil engineer was probably not the right choice for me. I stuck with it for the retirement and health benefits once we started a family. But now I am feeling free to explore other career options and hope to find something that will bring more personal satisfaction and finally feel successful in my second career. I have been working as an engineer for a public sector drinking water utility for 18+ years. I finally like what i do there now ("special projects" I call them). I struggle with writing boring technical documents but can write a mean focused letter :). I love organization, streamlining and making things easier for others in our organization, as well as working with data. I get also get a high when I get to investigate something. Something about the hunt for information and solving the mystery, I think. Anyhow some article written by a computer engineer that also has ADHD....did I mention I have (recently diagnosed) ADHD?!? Well it finally makes sense why I struggled so badly with simple but boring or repetitive tasks and writing technical documents in my first consulting world job after college and i still hate it today. Cheers!
Welcome to DEV!!
Dave here. I first learned to program in BASIC in 1980. I've used programming on my job, which is to control the air conditioning and heating systems in hospitals. I began at the beginning of the pandemic to increase my skills on the newer technologies, just because.
My current work and studies are in React, Angular, Vue, Java, Kotlin, Rust, and still my favorites, C/C++.
Dave does not do pretty. Dave does orderly and functional. C is good for orderliness.
C is certainly an orderly language. No complaints there!
Welcome aboard, Dave!
Greetings! My name is Brian and I am a retired former software engineer. I've had experience programming, administering systems running a variety of operating systems, I've written architecture, design, development, and test planning documents, and I spent the later years of my career testing software in the computer, automotive, and financial services areas.
Most of the software and tools that the Dev community uses at this stage are pretty new to me, so I'm mostly here for the curiosity and the interest of what this community does.
I'm very much a Linux software enthusiast, so what I do as a retiree is I try out many different "distributions", particularly those that work with both old and recent vintage hardware; I've been fortunate to pick up a few systems that other people were ready to discard. I put some Linux software on them, put new life into them, and I use them for two purposes: 1) I help test a Linux distribution for what would otherwise be "trash heap" systems; it's called antiX; it's particularly popular in third world regions, but people worldwide use it because it's lean, efficient, flexible and configurable. 2) I've given away a couple of systems that I've custom configured for people; I ask them how they use the computer, then I make it simple for them by configuring the exact tools or network sites - news, shopping, or whatever, that they use, so while I'm not building state of the art systems with the latest stuff, I'm making computers practical for people who may otherwise either not know how to use them or can't afford to use them, so instead of fancy technology, I share something practical with them. Hopefully many of you who DO use the current technology also think of others and how you can help them out, and maybe somewhere along the way you can make or give something to someone in need.
That's my story; no longer a cutting edge developer, though that was one of my interests a long, LONG time ago. These days I simply try to be helpful, and I still enjoy learning about the latest developments and methods that the current generation of developers use.
Wow! The work you're currently doing sounds awesome — it's both practical and mindful. I love the ethos behind creating software that is accessible to folks with older machines. If you decide to write about things like this that you're working on, I'd love to read it!
And, if you write about making software for vintage tech, I think there's a lotta community members here there that would enjoy that. Just like you enjoy learning about the latest developments, I think there are plenty of folks out there who would dig learning more about the old school stuff.
Thank you. I'll write about a few of the things that I have done since I have retired and the couple of small projects that are in the works.
As far as the tail end of my career, that's definitely relevant; a few veteran engineers who understand the legacy systems and some younger senior engineers to orchestrate the new development and maximize the interaction between the veterans and the young, skilled engineering with the cutting edge technology.
Welcome to the community, Brian! It's wonderful to have someone with your wealth of experience, and diverse background join us. Your journey as a retired software engineer and passion for Linux software is truly inspiring. Your efforts to configure custom systems for others and make technology accessible to those in need demonstrate the true spirit of community and compassion. We appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge and continue learning about the latest developments in the field.
We look forward to benefiting from your wisdom and insights.👍🏾
Welcome!
Hi, Glad to be a member of DEV Community.
Welcome to DEV!!
hey Yang, welcome!
I would like to re-introduce myself, my name is Geoffrey.
Came here as a frontend engr enthusiat, but on the path to become a data science as I am already as data analyst. Happy to be part of this community.
Hey Geoffrey! Welcome back. 🙌 We're happy to have ya here!
Thank you.
Whats up everyone? Cory here! I am the new kid on the block just trying to find my way around the site.
I am a currently working as a route delivery driver for a small company in the Texas hill country. At the moment I am using a few different programs to study web development and I am learning a lot but I am taking my time so that I can allow it to sink in.
Its great to be here and I hope to learn from you and maybe even gain a friend or two :)
Heyo Cory! Welcome. 🙌 I hope ya find DEV to be a helpful resource and that ya enjoy the community!
Thank you, Michael!
Hey folks, reintroduction here! I've been on dev.to for a few years now and use it for casual learning.
I've been coding professionally for about 6 years now. 5 years as an SDET, and the past year as a Mobile Developer with a focus on Android. Although I have a minor in CS circa 2007!
I started off in software as a support analyst (eventually supervisor) and then within a few years shifted to QA. I spent about 10 years in QA before the shift to the development side of things.
My current interests are Android, Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, and Espresso. However, I am fairly experienced in languages like Java, Groovy, JS, and tools like Selenium, Appium, Playwright, Wiremock and RestAssured.
Outside of work and programming, I love playing video games, miniature war games, board games, guitar, and above all of these, spending time with my family.
I also run a small community called "Quality, Inspired" which focuses on quality informed software development and positive mental health. If that interests you, feel free to reply or send me a message!