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10 tips for beginner developers - things I learned by mentoring interns

kethmars on February 25, 2020

Sooo... I just created a new Youtube channel (yikes) called Developer Habits. The main topics discussed in the channel are growth mindset, develope...
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Simme

I could not agree more with point 3. I've taken it to such "extremes" that when I instruct a class, I only provide them screenshots of the code examples, to force them to at least copy it by hand if they want to copy, thinking that hopefully adding some additional keystrokes in the target technology at least won't hurt.

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kethmars

Oh wow. Can I ask where do you instruct?

But I like the idea of creating screenshots instead of giving actual code. It's a forced good and I assume the code snippets aren't so long either. Has it helped?

I'm also planning to make a video about my journey as a freelancer before joining a professional company. I was the kind of guy who just copy-pasted everything together but in the end, didn't really understand what I'm doing.

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Simme

It varies a bit actually, but mostly on companies. I think it helped, though some students have whined about having to type it. 😅

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Joel Lau

Great tips! I just started working in a new company, had to pick up a new stack, but this is 100% applicable.

on a separate note there might be a minor typo in point 7:
"You may be more acknowledgeable ..."

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kethmars

Thanks Joel!
Based on your experience, is there any more advice you have for people who have to learn new stack?

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Blake Stansell

All great points. #1 is extremely relevant to absolute beginners. When I first started, it was "obviously I need to learn HTML/CSS". Then you want to make interactive areas, so JavaScript is a must. "You know, I'd like to have an email list on my personal site", so here comes NodeJS/Express/SQL. "Everybody seems to be using GitHub, better learn Git."

And once you get a little bit of momentum, "hey if I knew Wordpress well enough I could maybe make some money doing this!" So here comes Wordpress/PHP.

It takes real discipline to pick a technology/language and stick to it until you know it well.

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kethmars

Thanks for your kind words!
I get you. When learning FE Javascript, I was torn between different libraries. Then I needed to learn Node, but again, so much new knowledge that in the end, I didn't understand neither FE nor Node properly.

I guess if you know one thing well, including the fundamentals, learning other technologies become easier too.

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Hina-softwareEngineer

Amazing tips. As i am beginner, i really need this. Great. Hope for future Articles from you.😃😃

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kethmars

Hey! Thank you :) and good luck! Make sure to follow my Youtube channel as I'm definitely planning to publish more content there, targeting beginners. I've been through the hassle and know it can be hard, but it's totally doable :)!

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Hina-softwareEngineer

Yeah of course.

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Eduardo Luz

Great tips, @kethmars ! I agree 100% with each of your advices.

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kethmars • Edited

Thanks, Eduardo. It means a lot coming from someone with your experience!