Forem: jordan M.R

2 Things I’ve learnt after over year of working as a software developer.

jordan M.R — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 11:40:44 +0000

Declaimer: I am still at university so by working I mean part time.

1. It is not only alright to ask for help, but essential!

One of employers biggest fears when employing a junior dev or graduate is idea that they won’t ask for help and will instead continue to struggle alone and make no progress.
I used to be of the frame of mind that I must do my work on my own and asking for help is evidence that I am not a good programmer. However that is far from the case.
Asking for help is great and probably one of the best ways to gain experience in software development. The amount of times I’ve asked my co-workers for help or advice would of shocked me from a year ago but with hindsight it isn’t surprising.
Plus, even experienced software developers ask for help.

2. Tests Tests and Tests.

Writing tests is one of the biggest pains of being a software developer but they are too necessary to ignore.
Because with out them maintaining and improving a codebase as it grows becomes an impossible task. As software developer I’ve learnt you spend near all of your time maintaining an existing codebase. So having tests is the only way to know your modifications hasn’t broken something else before your changes is pushed to product and it then its too late and the damage is done 😭.
These are just two key things I've learnt that stood out to me. I look forward to learning more on my software development journey.

3 Things I wish I'd spent more time on in my first year of uni

jordan M.R — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 18:21:30 +0000

University is a big step and quite different to the style of learning to the way we learnt in school and sixth form (the UK's version of High school).

So now that I am in 2nd year student here are few things upon reflection I would of done more of in my first year. As it was only a few months ago I was calling myself a fresher the memories are still fresh in my mind.

First, time management!

Uni gives us to a lot of freedom and you should take full advantage of that. What I wish I did was plan my time more wisely. Schedule out times to revise throughout the year and don't leave assignments till the last minute. Because if you stay ahead this will give you time to ask your lecturers question before assignments is due so that you can get the best grade. Also more importantly if you finish your assignments early it means you can deal with the unexpected much better. Believe it or not but my student accommodation caught fire 🔥🔥 and almost got burnt down completely leaving the place unliveable (no one got seriously hurt). Now dealing with that and half a dozen assignment even with extensions wasn't an enjoyable time. you never know whats gonna happen, so get your assignment done ASAP.

Second, make friends in your class.

So why does this matter? I have two simple words, "group work"! These two words can give most uni students nightmares (including me). As I didn't make many friends on my course I was stuck in groups of random students for many of my assignments and jheez.... it was horrible. People wouldn't turn up to meetings; others wouldn't do any work, it was truly awful. If you get stuck in a similar situation you are just gonna have to face the facts that if you want a good grade you will have to carry the team and do most of the work. If you are in group with friends on the other hand, you will get more work done and have whole lot more fun.

Third, extra curriculum activities.

WorkShops; Extra Lectures; Special guest talks and more are all worth it. It may not seem obvious at first but it could be great content for a linkedIn post and if you are here blogging, Im sure you know a thing or two about self branding. Another thing is that it is a perfect opportunity to network with your peers as well as good employers. It could even lead to work experience or a part-time job.
I took advantage of a scheme that my University has called the "Employability Points" scheme. where by going to all of these extra curriculum activities I was able to earn enough points to gain a summer internship at a great company called SARD-JV. It was amazing and eventually I was offered part time job as a software developer at SARD-JV, that I accepted. If your university offers a scheme like this I highly recommend that you apply for it. here is a link to the case study of my internship.

Hopefully if you are starting Uni these tips will help you. Or if you have already graduated maybe you have a few tips or bits to add in the comments below.

Should university teach current or future technologies?

jordan M.R — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 13:59:58 +0000

So at my University we are being taught technologies like PHP and JQuery for our web development module. However, if current trends continue these technologies will soon be overtaken by the more newer ones like Node JS and React. I have a similar situation in a few of my other modules. Where I have to question if by the time I graduate won't half of these technologies be outdate and only use in legacy programs?

Shouldn't we teach the Developers of the future, the technology that will be used in that future?