Forem: kethmars

Insights from 30+ interviews as a software engineer candidate

kethmars — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 08:41:49 +0000

This is an interview that was made with me by Bees Knees Recruitment Agency. I believe it contains some thoughts devs could also find useful.

A positive candidate experience helps convert great talent to your company’s employees. But it’s not just that: candidate experience can make or break a successful employer brand, because the more you interview, the more people learn about your company - and your interviews.

To provide an excellent candidate experience, it’s important to learn from the candidates’ feedback. Today we are talking to Kethmar Salumets, a Senior Software Engineer, who agreed to share his experience being in the candidate’s shoes.

Kethmar, tell us a bit about your career path and what you’re doing at the moment.

Initially, I began my career as a freelancer. However, for the past six years, I have been employed full-time in various startup companies, working in different roles such as front-end and full-stack developer, as well as taking on the responsibilities of a tech lead. Despite being fully employed, I continued to take on freelance projects to keep myself updated with the latest technologies and maintain my project management skills.

Recently, I have decided to take a break from my position as a tech lead in a small fintech company and am currently taking some time to rest and pursue freelancing opportunities, while exploring the job market.

How did you transition from a freelance engineer to in-house?

The transition from freelancing to in-house dev has been quite natural. Since the age of 12, I have been passionate about designing and coding websites, considering the two activities to be inseparable. However, as I gained more experience and started taking on larger projects with real clients, I found that tasks like project management, communication, and support were taking up a significant amount of my time. Despite this, I persisted in freelancing for about eight years and learned a great deal.

Eventually, I came to the realization that what I enjoyed most about freelancing was the coding aspect and I wanted to further hone my skills in this area. Seeking a job as a developer seemed like a logical step towards achieving this goal. Initially, I was confident that my coding abilities were of a high standard, but as it turned out, there was much more for me to learn.

How did you find your first job as a software engineer and what was the interview process like?

During my time as a freelancer, I had collected a wide range of projects in my portfolio. While applying to various development agencies, a friend suggested that to truly improve my skills and build quality products while gaining experience in fast-paced business building, I should consider joining a startup. Though I was unfamiliar with the concept, after careful consideration, I applied to Pipedrive (currently an Estonian unicorn) as a frontend developer, which was still a relatively small company at the time but highly esteemed in the industry.

Feeling confident due to my previous freelancing experience, I attended the interview, only to see my confidence plummet rapidly as I encountered a thorough five-round interview process that included both technical and soft skill assessments, as well as a home task. Though I wasn't overly concerned about the soft skills section, when I sat down with two engineers who reviewed my home task, I realized just how much I had yet to learn, particularly in writing maintainable and properly tested code. Despite feeling a little disheartened at first, I was motivated by the experience and realized the difference between “writing code” and “building a maintainable product”.

Fortunately, the interviewers saw my eagerness to improve and offered me the job. Though the initial salary was nearly 2.5 times less than what the agencies had proposed, I saw it as a way to learn and kickstart my professional career. That thinking made me accept the offer.

Looking back, I'm glad I made that choice. Although the interview process was long, it ensured both sides that there’s a fit. During the interview process, I got to learn about the company, meet with product managers and engineers, see the office and even have a session with the CEO, giving me the assurance that there’s a genuine, good person leading the company. And to me, that’s all that mattered at the time.

Throughout your career, what was the worst interview experience and why?

Throughout my career, I've attended several interviews with negative experiences. However, one particular interview stands out in my memory, which was conducted by a well-known US-based company.

I applied for the role of a senior frontend engineer. The company's technical assessment was divided into two separate interviews, one that focused on full-stack development and another that concentrated specifically on React. The first interview was a pleasant experience, and I enjoyed discussing the topics with the interviewer, who was also personable and easy to talk to.

On the other hand, the React-specific interview was a less-than-pleasant experience. From the outset, I sensed that the interviewer was disinterested in conducting the interview. He communicated aggressively, and when I tried to repeat the questions in my own words (which I strongly recommend to make sure you understand the task), I was told that it wasn't necessary. I also felt discouraged to ask clarifying questions. Additionally, some of the technical questions were quite challenging, and when I wasn't able to provide exact answers or definitions, the interviewer responded with comments like "that shouldn't be so hard" or "you should have come up with that faster." Though I liked the company, I realized from the outset that this was not a teammate I wanted to work with.

While I didn't receive an offer from the company in the end, I wasn't too disheartened by the outcome. Experiences like that show me how to “not conduct interviews”.

On the other hand, what was your favorite interview experience?

I've had numerous interview experiences over the years, and I appreciate the opportunity to attend them as it's a skill that must be developed. Even when I'm in a comfortable position, I like to know my value, and who knows, I may come across an offer that makes me consider.

However, my favorite interview experience was with a US-based company called Edgio, when I applied for a lead developer position approximately a year ago. While I don't recall the entire process, I believe it involved calls with the VP of engineering, HR, and the CTO.

There were several reasons why I enjoyed the process so much. Firstly, I felt a sense of complete freedom to discuss any topics. After each call, I was given enough time, around 10-15 minutes, to discuss various topics. Additionally, all the interviewers were very positive and open-minded.

Secondly, the technical challenge was a highlight of the experience. Essentially, I was given a task to solve in a couple of hours, after which we reviewed and discussed the solution. I was able to complete the challenge, and instead of waiting for the feedback, we had a call right away to discuss the solution. This allowed both sides to learn from one another.

Thirdly, I appreciated that they had put in effort to check my background. During that period, I was actively running a YouTube channel dedicated to developers. While in the final call, we talked about my background, technical topics, and delved deeper into why and how I started my channel. They asked specific questions about the content of my videos, which was heartwarming as I felt an effort was made from their side, and I also got to express my passion for the topics.

Overall, I felt that there was a good match, and they made me an offer. Though I didn't end up joining the company for personal reasons, it was a difficult decision to decline after such a pleasant experience.

There’s a never ending discussion about the test task part: should there be one at all, should it be a homework or a live coding session, etc. From a candidate standpoint, what do you find most efficient?

In my opinion, the type of technical assessment that a company uses should depend on the person and the company itself. Some may prefer takeaway tasks, while others may prefer live coding exercises. However, the test task should never take more than a few hours. It is puzzling to me when companies require senior developers to build a full application as a test task. A good technical interviewer should be able to extract the necessary skills during a conversation (or a very customized tech task).

Personally, I enjoy live coding exercises the most. They are typically time-boxed and provide me with an opportunity to discuss ideas, ask questions, and demonstrate how well I get along with the interviewer. However, for those who experience anxiety during live coding, the experience discussed in the previous question can be a great option.

Ultimately, companies should be mindful of the amount of time they take away from candidates during the assessment process. They should prioritize the skills they want to test and determine the best way to test them. If a company insists on requiring candidates to spend more than four hours on a task, they should provide appropriate compensation.

I know that you had experience interviewing at both Estonian and foreign companies. Do you think there’s any difference in the approach?

Good one. I’d say it depends more on the size of the company than the country. That said, in Estonia, I feel things move faster, regardless if it's a big or small company. Maybe because the talent pool is small.

Also, in Estonia, I’ve also had more offers just because people know me, making the recruiting company be able to drop some interview rounds.

When you are in the shoes of the interviewer yourself, what is your interview style?

As a tech lead in my previous position, I had the opportunity to develop and conduct numerous interview sessions. This allowed me to test various approaches to find the most effective one.

My interview process always had three goals: to validate that the candidate was a fit with the team, to assess their technical ability or potential (depending on the position), and to ensure that they left the interview feeling positive. To achieve these goals, I treated interviews as casual conversations. Although I always had prepared questions, they were delivered in a way that felt natural. My aim was for the candidate to feel as though we were simply discussing various topics in a friendly environment, rather than being interviewed. This approach provided me with valuable insights into their technical thinking and personality.

For the test task, I opted for a live coding role-play approach. Beforehand, the candidate was provided with a small codebase that they could familiarize themselves with. During the live coding session, we solved a real-life scenario, with the aim of simulating pair programming. The feedback from candidates was overwhelmingly positive, particularly regarding the fact that the task was related to real-world problems.

Overall, I found this approach to be highly effective in achieving my interview goals and ensuring that candidates left with a positive experience.

What advice would you give to the recruiters and hiring teams?

The people who represent the company during interviewing have a great impact on how the company’s perceived in the developer community. Trust me, developers share that kind of knowledge.

Also, think the interview process through (especially the technical task). What are the skills you actually need to test? Is it feasible to achieve the goals in the given time? How much time would it require from the candidate?

And last but not least… communicate! Even if it’s a “NO”, send an email. The worst thing a company can do is ghost the candidate. It’s disrespectful and will result in negative feedback.

Kethmar, thanks so much for sharing your insights! I’m sure there are learnings that our followers will take with them, and in such a way we will make hiring better together.

How to choose your future employer? Questions to ask during your next interview

kethmars — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 17:56:33 +0000

What do you believe makes a great employer? Leave a comment for a discussion

Intro

Developers love to code. But that's not enough to make a sustainable career out of it. You also need to be willing to communicate with other people, take on initiatives out of your comfort zone, deal with failures, constantly learn new concepts etc. That's why I believe it's important to find an employer that not only pays you a solid salary, but also connects you to like-minded people and where striving for becoming a better professional is part of the company's culture.

Considering that good developers are in demand and the number of companies looking for developers is quite high, I'd like to share my thoughts on how to validate an employer that you will actually enjoy working for.

What do you care about?

I believe that before one starts looking for a company to join, personal preferences should be evaluated. At least in Estonia, there are many great companies to join, Pipedrive(my first employer) definitely being one of them. From a developer's perspective, it's great as there are tons of options to choose from, but it also makes it important ask - what do YOU value about your future employer? Below, I'm going to list some questions to help you.

Do I want to work in a small or big company?
Is my goal to learn or earn?
Do I want to work remotely?
How autonomous do I want my job to be?
What's the tech stack I want to work with?
How much do I want to mentor others vs code myself?
What are the core values I'm looking for in the company?
Do I want to just code or also participate in the product development?
Which business domains do I care about?
What's my main goal in joining a new company?

Having answered those questions, you should have a much better understanding of the company that fits your needs. That said, having evaluated your personal preferences is just one side of the coin.

What makes a great company?

Having gone through your personal preferences, it's time to look at the other side of the coin - the company. A good company can be both big or small, work in banking or sales, use Go or Java as their main language... But based on my experiences, there are some universal features that great employers have. Next, I'll show those features and potential questions to ask during your research or interviews.

A business that solves an actual problem

A good company solves an actual problem and generates real value. As a developer, you should be at least be able to understand the basics of the business engine and whether the founders have the potential to execute. For example Pipedrive had founders with experience in sales, development and startups in general. When I joined, they were already an established startup that generated revenue, had real clients with a feasible business plan, making it easy to trust the founders although I didn't fully understand the business domain.

Some of the questions to help you validate the business of the company

What is the problem the company's solving?
What is the business plan of the company? How do they make money?
Do they have real clients?
Is the company profitable?
How long is the runaway of the company?

The company culture and people

Besides business, I believe company's culture and its people to be the most important aspects of a great company. Working with like-minded people who share your values not only makes your work more efficient but also enjoyable.

...a great company has well-defined core values

Based on my experience from Pipedrive and Sentinel (a small startup I worked for), a great company has well-defined core values like

"reach for greatness"
"don't ruin other people's day"
"put the team first"
"no excuses"
"radical transparency"

In Sentinel, I even had to read books like "Extreme Ownership" by Jocko Willink to fully understand the company's core values. As I already agreed with most of the ideas in the book, I was confident that the culture I'm becoming part of suits me.
In the end, a good company hires according to their values, making it easy for you to validate if you want to join them.

Some of the questions to help you validate the company's culture

What are the core values of your company?
What is the interview process like?
How do you improve the team work between your employees?
What kind of company- and team events do you have?
Has anyone been fired from the company? Why?
What's the best and the worst thing about working here?

Growth opportunities

A vital aspect of a great employer is that they provide employees with growth opportunities. For developers, it can include regular 1:1s, challenging assignments, active mentoring, option to go to conferences etc.

In one of my previous videos about my journey in Pipedrive, I showed the audience how I grew by taking on tasks, getting feedback, participating in regular 1:1s and time-to-time jumping completely out of my comfort zone. Eventually, I also started taking personal coaching sessions.

Eventually, I also started taking personal coaching sessions.

All that resulted in me becoming a developer who doesn't just care about the technical aspects, but also about the actual problem we're solving, the well-being of the people I worked with and the bigger goal we're aiming for.

The journey and takeaways here may differ from person to person, but my main point is that a good company provides people with challenges, feedback and a supportive environment for growth.

Some of the questions to help with validating if the company's investing in your growth

Do you have a clear career path?
How is the feedback given and received in the company?
Do you carry out regular 1:1s?
What do you see me doing in the company after X years?
What have you(the interviewer) learned during the past month?
What are the processes when someone makes a (technical) mistake?
Do you have mentoring initiatives? Do you practice pair programming?
Do you have an extra budget for educational purposes like books, courses and conferences?

Autonomy, trust and freedom

Regarding growth, I believe trust and autonomy play an important role. A great employer knows that. There's a big difference whether you're constantly told what to do or coming up with solutions yourself. Although the first is easier, the latter improves you more and results in more autonomy.

For example, in both Sentinel and Pipedrive, I tried to be proactive, meaning solving problems either by doing tasks or leading projects. Eventually, that kind of mentality resulted in more autonomy, as I could lead more projects, come up with solutions on my own and grow so much faster. Also, the more I proved myself, the more I was trusted. In the end, I felt quite comfortable not working from 9-5(especially when doing things remotely) but just agreeing on when something needed to be done and plan my days accordingly.

I believe that a good employer should trust their employees to give their best and get things done. The processes in the company should encourage that kind of thinking.

Some of the questions to help you validate if the company's providing you with autonomy

Do you allow remote work?
Do you track your employees' working time and efficiency? If yes, how?
How are the technical decisions(for example, architecture for a new service) made in the company?
What are the expected working hours? Can I take a 2-hour-break in the middle of the day and work longer in the evening?
How can one become a project lead in the company?

Work/life balance

To have a sustainable career, your work and personal life need to be in balance. A great employer knows that. They care about their employees, their well-being and invests in that. In the end, a motivated employee that has less worries is more efficient and provides more value.

When working in Pipedrive, things like free coaching sessions, gym membership and awesome company events were accessible to all employees. I also remember how sometimes when the clock hit 5PM, my manager told me to just go home and continue the next day, implying that there's more to life than just being a developer (obviously there are times that require extra hours, but that was quite rare). The company even measured how willing were we, the employees, to recommend Pipedrive as an employer to others and took action based on the results.

Combine that kind of attitude with awesome colleagues of whom many you can call friends, and you'll get a place where work life balance is in place. That why I although I believe it's you who must take care of your work/life balance, the company can and should create a culture where taking care of oneself is encouraged.

Questions to help you validate the work/life balance in a company

How does your company help the employees maintain a work/life balance?
Do you provide any perks for mental and physical well-being?
Do you allow remote work?
How often do your employees have to work extra hours? How is it compensated?
How often do you have team and company events?
Can you walk me through a typical day of a developer in the company?
How is employee feedback gathered? How often? What's the eNPS?

Sharing the success of the company with the employees

I believe that a good employer shares its success with its employees. As a developer, it's hard for me to justify working for a company that does not provide stock options, shares or bonuses.

Especially in early-stage startups, where working extra hours can be required often, it only makes sense to ask a piece of the pie, because you're part of the small team that helps to bring the idea to life.

In case the company does not provide any equity, I'd expect the salary to be higher to address the lack of equity.

Questions to ask about about shares, bonuses and stock options

Do you offer stock options, shares or bonuses?
If yes, based on what criteria? In case of stock options, what's the vesting schedule?
If no, why?

BONUS: The CTO, manager and technical stack

Do your own research about the CTO, ask questions about the tech stack, why such decisions were made, what are the processes around development etc. That gives you confidence that from the technical aspects, you'll be joining a good place.

Additionally, if possible, ask to meet your future team and manager. As you'll be spending tons of time with these people, it's important that you'll get a long and your values align, at least professionally.

Conclusion

When choosing your next employer as a developer, you should first try to understand what are you after. Only after that can the evaluation of specific companies start. As developers, we're fortunate to be in demand, meaning we have the privilege to choose amongst the best options. Fortunately, I've worked in great companies like Pipedrive that have set my standards for an employer really high, so hopefully you can use my experience as a guidance in finding an employer that fits your needs.

DeveloperHabits
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8 flags showing it's time to quit my job as a developer

kethmars — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 16:28:28 +0000

Below, I'm sharing my journey and flags that made me move on. That said, I'm curious to know...

...What do you believe are the flags showing it's time to quit your current jobs as a dev?

My story

Intro

In one of my latest posts, I shared my 4-year-journey as a developer. I worked in an amazing company called Pipedrive, which gave me an opportunity to grow as an individual and as a professional. That said, even though I was in an ideal environment, I took a decision to join another company. Why? Well, there were many aspects in play that I'll now also be sharing with you.

The safety net

Before I can tell you about the points that made me leave my first employer, I'd like to talk about the safety net I had, making the final decision so much harder.

Great people and environment
- One of the things I admired(and still admire) about Pipedrive is it's culture. The people they've hired are super smart and full of can-do attitude.
Awesome team and company events
- Some of the best memories I have from my professional life are from different team and company events, where you usally get to know your colleagues much better. If you work in a place where your core values align with those of the company, it's intevitable to have colleagues you genuinely enjoy spending time with.
A clear career path
- A clear career plan, especially for junior devs, is super important, as it can be used to set specific, SMART goals.
A solid salary
- My salary as a developer was in accordance with the market. As developers usually earn much more than the nationa average, it meant I could have a lifestyle to my own liking, leaving money for investements and other activities I wanted.
Opportunity to choose my own projects
- In Pipedrive, you could basically do what ever you want to. It just needed to align with the company's goals. The freedom to choose can be both a curse but also an opportunity to go out of one's comfort zone. One day, I could work as a front-end or bacend developer, the other day lead a project, making me focus more on the management skills.
Super awesome office and all the benefits that come with it
- I had a chance to work in 3 different offices. All of them were great with their own pros and cons. Things like free snacks, drinks, sauna and gym are just few of the things to be mentioned.
Personal coaching
- That's the one I really miss. In Pipedrive, I had access to professional help through personal coaches. Whenever I felt stuck in my professional or non-professional life, I could go to coaching sessions to get help figuring myself out.

As you can see, this list is quite impressive. Having such a strong supportive, safe environment can be really hard to leave. Nevertheless, there were aspects more powerful signalling me it's time to move on.

The flags showing that it's time to leave

Before you consider these flags, I want you to know that in the end it really comes down to your own personal values. In my case, self-growth and the ability to have an impact play a huge role in my efficiency as an employee.

Loss of motivation to give my best
- When joinin a new company, you'll be in an unknown envirnoment. Most probably, it's challenging and you want to learn and prove yourself. In my case, the first 3 years in Pipedrive served that purpose. I was learning and constantly being challenged. But at some point, I felt that although I took on new initiatives and sought discomfort, I knew the system and environment too well to be fully challenged, resulting in a long-term loss of motivation.
Looking forward to Fridays
- This one is connected to the first one. I remember that at some point, there were more and more days when I felt I do not enjoy my work. Sometimes I overcame that feeling by taking on bigger initatives or made my tasks more challenging. Sometimes a short vacation helped. Nevertheless, the feeling of looking forward to Fridays in order to build my own projects or freelance stayed.
Growth becoming slower
- As developers(and well...human beings), we must constantly learn new things. I'm a genuine believer of life-long learning and when I see my growth is slowing down, something must be done. As I had been in a familiar environment for some time, the thought of forcing myself to learn by jumping into a new environment sounded interesting.
Curiosity to challenge oneself in a new environment
- At some point, I started accepting interviews to other companies in order to test my skills. It didn't take long to become curious about how things are done in other companies, what the processes are and how my experience could help them improve.
The business domain isn't appealing anymore
- A point I don't believe applies to junior devs as in that phase, one should just care about learning. But there comes a time in a developer's career when you've got the luxury to decide which companies to work for. In Pipedrive, we were working on developing an award-winning CRM tool that was often praised by my friends working in sales. Nevertheless, I felt there are business domains I'm more passionate about. When an opportunity came that connected many of the domains I'm curious about, it was hard to say "no" to the opportunity.
Change of the company size
- The goal of most companies is to grow, to scale. Company size of 10 is different from that of 600 people. And well, Pipedrive had grown. In the former, there's lots of familiarity. Drinking coffee with the CEO to discuss future business plans is not a rare occasion. In the latter, there will be more processes, communication and fewer people you know face-to-face. That said, there's an opportunity to work on deep problems. Fortunately, I've worked in companies of both size and at some point, when Pipedrive had grown too much, I understood that I'd like to get back to the coffee drinking with the CEO. I'm curious to see how full enterprise companies work though.
Do you see yourself working for that company in X years?
- Easy and simple. I personally asked myself if I see myself working for the respective company in 5 years. The answer was a clear no as I had plans to at least try out full-time freelancing or creating my own product at some point.
You've achieved something big
- And the last one. My manager put it nicely- before leaving a company, you should accomplish something big. I guess one's achievements are always up to discussion, but I felt I had helped bring some ideas to life by contributing as a mentor, developer or project lead.

Before taking an action, have a plan

Having a desire to leave a company is never enough. You must also have a plan. In my eyes, you should at least take care of your finances and write down the expectations for the future employer.

Regarding finances, I had been saving money for a long time as I knew that at some point, I want move on. In that context, I believe it's healthy to think in terms of the worst-case-scenario. Make sure to have at least a 6-month-salary saved.

Another thing you should do is clearly define what you're looking for in your future employer. It will help you validate during the interviews that the company you're joining is a good fit. I'll definitely talk about this topic more in the future, but at least clearly define the following points:

salary
benefits
core values
individual education

Remember, a desire without a proper strategy isn't enough. By analysing your expectations and covering your financial situation, you'll reduce most of the potential risks when switching a job.

Conclusion

Leaving a company is hard if you like the environment you're in. That said, I urge you to be alert of becoming comfortable. The points mentioned above hopefully help you understand when it's time to move on. But before you do, make sure to have a solid plan.

Becoming Machine Learning Engineer in 9 Days

kethmars — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 16:44:37 +0000

Intro

It's a technology I do not know much about. But what I do know is that it's an amazing tool to solve great problems. Take self-driving cars for example- the thought of not having to steer the wheel sounds amazing, helping us to reduce traffic, fight climate change while also saving time and making streets safer.

But as with every great technology, there's a lot of buzz around it. And as a developer, to better understand what kind of problems it can solve and how to actually utilise machine learning, I took on a challenge - to become a machine learning engineer in 9 days

In this article, I'll walk you through my journey, processes and share some resources.

I started with almost zero knowledge and ended up building a tool that's able to detect OK and STOP signs in a video/webcam feed.

The plan

In order to timebox the task and have a clear path for learning, I created a plan.

Day 1: Go through no-code ML tools to understand the basics of what's possible
Day 2: Learn about the basic theory(Courses, MIT course, 3blue1brown or something)
Day 3: Learn about the basic theory(Courses, MIT course, 3blue1brown or something)
Day 4: Go through some practical video tutorial(s) that introduces me to tech
Day 5-9: Build a tool that's able to recognize stop and ok signs in a video

My journey, day by day

The reality? I can already say, everything did not go as planned.

Day 1 - 2 - No-code ML tools

On my first two days, I learned a lot about no-code ML tools and got a basic understanding of what ML can do. I went through a list of different no-code ML tools and added brief comments about each of them.

It's quite amazing as there's software for enterprise-level but also ones for complete beginners.
For example, if you don't know anything about machine learning, I advise you to play around with Teachable Machine. It's the tool that really wowed me in the beginning as I was easily able to build a pose detector.

Another fun tool to use was Lobe, where I could build an image detector and learn about image labelling. Using Lobe felt like playing a game as its UI was really simple to use.

Regarding more sophisticated tools, I recommend exploring Peltarion and Obviously.ai (Self-recorded)

Peltarion seems to be a really thorough platform. For a beginner not knowing much about ML, there are many options that seemed confusing, but by going through the tutorials, things start to make sense. They also have helping materials to learn about ML/AI jargon.
Regarding Obviously.ai, I advise it for business people who want to understand what's possible with AI, as they seem to use more business jargon which I liked. It also gives the user example dataset to play around with. I made use of the Airbnb dataset.

Day 3-4 Theory theory theory

My goal was to learn more about machine learning and deep learning.
I went through numerous videos and articles to get a basic understanding of things. I'd say the hardest part is to know what to learn and how to learn, as the number of resources out there is huge. How I approached it was that I started out with basic videos and then moved on to deep learning.

For the very basics, I watched videos from channels like Simplilearn, Google Cloud Tech, Tensorflow Channel and Edureka

From there on, I took an MIT course on Deep Learning. I didn't understand everything, but it definitely gave a great overview of how neural networks work. Additional information was acquired from 3Blue1Brown's channel.

For the very least, you should have an understanding of simple terms like

Precision, recall, True Positive, False positives, confusion matrix.

When introduced to deep learning, there are also phrases like

convolutional layers
learning rate
gradient descent
pooling.

And don't worry if you don't understand everything. I certainly do not, but it was enough for me to grasp the main concepts.

Day 5 - Practical tutorials by Deeplizard

After 2 days of learning the basic theory, I wanted to do something more practical.

I found a video in freeCodeCamp YT channel by Deeplizard, which was super practical and well-explained. It went through all the steps on how to

set up a local environment
use Jupyter notebook
create our own datasets for training
train the model
create neural networks
check the confusion matrix.

If you want to learn the basics of how to build an image classifier, I strongly recommend that video. They also provide a source code that I used as a basis for my future endeavours.

By the end of the day, I used the source code provided by the tutorial, played around with it and got my first training results to differentiate cats from dogs! AWESOME!

Day 6 Build my own project

On my 6th day, I started building my own project.

The goal was to build an application that's able to detect STOP and OK hand signs in a video so I could use those detections to cut out parts in my recordings that I don't need.

I took the source code from Deeplizard's tutorial and started modifying it based on my needs, only to realise that I need some training data for my model.

I created tons of images of myself with both STOP and OK signs, grouped them into test/train/validate folders and fed them to the deep learning model. Hopeful that it's gonna work, it didn't.

I consulted with one of my colleagues and got advice to firstly detect the hand part and then classify it. That knowledge made me rethink the whole approach.

To make the system work, I had to(for each frame)

detect the hand(if it exists)
Take a screenshot of the detected hand
classify it's the hand's an OK or STOP sign

Day 7 - YOLO object detection

On my 7th day, I started searching for tutorials about object detection and quickly found some great ones about YOLO, or you only learn once object detection system.

The tutorials I used were created by Jay Bhatt and Pysource.

In these tutorials, I was introduced to Colab, which is basically an online version of Jupyter from Google for running your code and train models. It also connects your Google Drive, making file management quite convenient.

As it provides a possibility to use a remote GPU, it was so much faster than my local machine.

After going through the tutorials, it was time to set up my own hand detection. The enthusiasm I had was lost after 5 minutes when I had to start LABELLING MANUALLY.

It meant drawing boxes of around 500 hands in different images to create the training data for my future model. As a developer, I really dislike manual work and well... that was just painful. (ZOOM IN)

Nevertheless, after using the source code from the tutorial and tweaking it to my needs, I got my object detection to work! All the hands were actually detected.

I even tested it locally with a live webcam feed and boy it felt good to see an actual working piece of software using machine learning.

Day 8 - Data data data

The 8th day started with high hopes - I had a working hand detector, now it was just necessary to classify them.

Using Deeplizard's source code as a basis, I gathered training data from the internet and trained to model. The results? It seemed to work okayish. Until I tested it out on real footage from my videos. It didn't work at all - STOP signs were recognized as OK.

I spent the day hacking around with the code and training data to make sense of what's going on.

Day 9 - Getting things to work

On my ninth day, I came up with an idea to use YOLO detector and live-webcam feed to create training data. I set up the webcam and when it detected a hand, saved it in the training data(script created using Python).

I got about 2000 images and was feeling hopeful. When I sent an image from the video feed to the classifier, everything seemed to work. The validation accuracy was 98%, which was clearly too good to be true.

Testing real video footage was still not perfect but good enough for me as I could add extra checks on the application level.

I guess in order to improve the model, I need more training data from various situations and use augmentation(showing the same image in different ways).

Conclusion

Did I become a machine learning engineer? Definitely not. But I did come to understand how machine learning works and what are the kind of problems one could solve using it.

Having done this experiment, I understand how important the data in training the models are.

The main takeaways to me are that

Firstly, Machine learning isn't as hard as it seems, at least on the basic level.
You can learn a lot about the field by using no-code tools.
For developers wanting to try out the tech, the amount of free resources is huge. Just go to Youtube, open freeCodeBootcamp and you'll already see some practical tutorials.
The most important part in creating ML models is data and its preparation.
And as with every technology, before using ML, one must ask what is the problem they are trying to solve.

To finish, I want to say that there are many things that I do not know I do not know, but having gone through the experience of building something myself certainly made me even more excited about the future of machine learning.

I genuinely hope I motived you to try out machine learning.
If you have thoughts and ideas about this article/video, then please leave a comment in the comments section below.

No-code ML tools I recommend trying out

Teachable Machine, https://teachablemachine.withgoogle.com/
Lobe, https://lobe.ai/
Obviously.ai, http://obviously.ai/
Peltarion, https://peltarion.com/

Resources for learning the BASICS

Machine Learning Basics by Simplilearn, https://youtu.be/ukzFI9rgwfU
The 7 steps of machine learning by Google Cloud Tech, https://youtu.be/nKW8Ndu7Mjw
Machine Learning Basics by Edureka, https://youtu.be/hjh1ikznScg
All Machine Learning Models Explained in 5 Minutes by Learn With Whiteboard, https://youtu.be/yN7ypxC7838

Resources for DEEP LEARNING

But what is a Neural Network? by 3Blue1Brown, https://youtu.be/aircAruvnKk
MIT Course by Alexander Amini, https://youtu.be/5tvmMX8r_OM

Resources for PRACTICAL TUTORIALS

Keras with TensorFlow Course by Deeplizard, https://youtu.be/qFJeN9V1ZsI
YOLO object detection by Pysource, https://youtu.be/h56M5iUVgGs
YOLO object detection by Jay Bhatt, https://youtu.be/hTCmL3S4Obw

Other RESOURCES

About classification, Google's ML crash course, https://developers.google.com/machine...
Precision, Recall, F1 score, True Positive by Codebasics, https://youtu.be/2osIZ-dSPGE

Tools

Colab, https://colab.research.google.com/
LabelImg, https://github.com/tzutalin/labelImg

There were definitely more articles and resources I read but didn't unfortunately write down. So if you have some, please share them in the comments.

DeveloperHabits
📷 Youtube: developerHabits
👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/developerHabits
👉 IG: https://www.instagram.com/developerhabits

The importance of personal coaching and self-care

kethmars — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 09:14:46 +0000

Mental health and self-care are important topics. Especially for developers, who have to constantly be up-to-date with new trends and perform at their best.
I've personally experienced burn-out at a time when I didn't expect it. One of the people that played a huge role in helping me was Liina Adov, a psychologist and personal coach.

In this interview, we are talking about important topics like:

What is personal coaching and how it can help you
How to take care of your self
How important it is to sleep?
Does Pomodoro technique work?
Importance of hobbies and much more.

DeveloperHabits
📷 Youtube: developerHabits
👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/developerHabits
👉 IG: https://www.instagram.com/developerhabits

Quantum computing? About learning and teaching complex topics

kethmars — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 16:59:11 +0000

Anastasia Marchenkova, a software engineer and a researcher. Some of you may know her by her Youtube channel, where she talks about super interesting topics like quantum computing, AI, blockchain etc. What makes her channel special in my opinion is how entertaining yet educating it is.

The reason why we're here today is to learn about Anastasia's journey of becoming an engineer and a quantum researcher. I already know that this path hasn't been straightforward and includes multiple detours, for example creating her own startup. We're also going to learn about her habits, learning methods and other universal knowledge you can use to become a better developer.

And a shameless promo - if you are interested in coding, growth mindset and are willing to share your experiences, ideas, then please do PM me on Twitter :)!

DeveloperHabits
📷 Youtube: developerHabits
👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/developerHabits
👉 IG: https://www.instagram.com/developerhabits

My first 4 years as a professional developer in a dream company. And why I left.

kethmars — Sat, 13 Mar 2021 12:15:17 +0000

Are you someone wondering what the first years in a developer's career look like? Or maybe you're already working as a developer but finding it hard to reach the next level? Well...I'm here to say that it's completely natural. And in this video, I'll be walking you through my first years as a developer in a fast-paced startup, showing you what I learned, how I learned and how it all felt like.

Before I start, I'd like to say that this video is meant as a diary entry for myself in the future. It's long, but also necessary as it gives an overview of my first years as a developer and my honest thought process during those times. I hope it serves as an example by showing that the way up isn't straightforward and it's completely ok to hesitate along the way.

How did I land a job in one of the coolest startups of Estonia?

Before joining, I had been freelancing for many years. It was fun, but at some point, it also got lonely. That's when I decided it's time to grow my development skills to the next level, a decision resulting in a search for a job as a dev. Having a solid portfolio, it was easier for me to get to interviews and also get offers. The best ones came from smaller agencies that liked my fluency in WordPress. But my goal wasn't to get a good salary. My goal was to grow. And when an interviewer in one of the companies, Pipedrive, told me I've got some junior skills but listed tons of areas I could improve in, I was hooked.

Straight after joining I saw why the company's so great. I was given a proper 2-week onboarding, the colleagues were smart, optimistic and full of a "can do" attitude. Through regular, by-weekly 1-1s I was provided with a fast feedback loop that helped me to grow as a person and a developer. And the best part - we had fun! Various team events, company gatherings and traditions is an important part of Pipedrive.

Although the environment at the company was great, I quickly understood that in order to succeed, I must level up my coding and problem-solving skills. And that's how my journey began.

Year 1 - Learning I'm not as smart as I thought to be

I joined Pipedrive thinking it's gonna be an easy ride. Initially, I thought I'd be there for one year just to get some professional experience but little did I know. My expert level CSS and Javascript skills were actually quite superficial. I knew how to write code, but not in a maintainable and performant way. I especially remember one front-end task, where after the code review, my colleague told me that it's not enough to just do things. We have to do things well. My initial shock woke me up and motivated me to give my best.

By doing pair-programming session, I grew a lot. I also had superb 1:1s where I was recommended books, guided on what to focus on and share my worries and ask questions. All the results in an encouragement to just keep going.

During my first year, I also managed to take down our website a couple of times. In the beginning, I was really mad at myself, asking questions like how I could've done it. But again, I was asked if I learned anything. That was the kind of mentality I've tried to use since - to not blame but solve the problem and educate others.

By the end of my first year, I wanted to make show that I've gotten better and decided to take on the task of refactoring our routing system in NodeJS.

Looking back, my first year was about learning to swim in an unknown environment. I joined super confident but lost all of it once I saw my previous skills were not enough. And I'm happy because that really made me want to improve myself. Besides technical skills, I acquired new knowledge regarding development processes, product-minded thinking and startups in general.

Year 2 - Getting promoted. And seeing how dangerous it is to fall in love with your ideas.

My second year started with finishing the big refactoring in our routing system. I was really proud, as, during the code review, one of my colleagues and mentors told me that junior devs don't write code like that.

Great news followed shortly after, during one of the 1:1s - I got promoted for the exact reasons I was hoping for - taking initiative, being able to actually deliver, showing that I can improve and have an attitude that seeks challenges.

Although I was hoping for a promotion, I did not believe I was fully worth it. But then something unexpected happened - some more experienced devs left the team, pushing me and my team members to take more initiative.

One of those initiatives was a project to build an in-memory database orchestration system using Redis Sentinel. That project completely out of my comfort zone and I was hacking days nights, literally.

I got to spend about 4 months on it when it was just scratched after our team merged with other teams and we got some more experienced backend devs to join our cause. To be honest, I remember just being happy because I was paid to learn in-depth about Consul, Docker Swarm, writing shell scripts and Redis. I also had a chance to do pair-programming with our DevOps people.

But the greatest lessons? Firstly, one must constantly question how much value does your work actually bring? And secondly, it's ok to prefer simple solutions if it has a minimal cost.

As the year continued, I focused more on FE and started mentoring interns. It was a great chance to clarify my own knowledge but also have an impact on others' career.

To conclude, I believe my second year in Pipedrive was one of the most educative ones. Tech-wise, it was fun diving deep into unknown concepts, although it didn't bring any business value. I'm grateful as I learned the importance of listening to people around me, preferring simple solutions and the necessity to make compromises when needed.

Year 3 - Back and forth between the soft skills and technical improvements

The third year started slowly. I was still connected to mentoring initiatives and then joined a project to continue building our new website's FE(VueJS). As I had done lots of VueJS development in the past, I felt quite comfortable.

After our new website was published, I joined an backend-only project to really dive deep into how that world works. I Got to see how much discussions and planning must go into creating systems that connect to tens of other microservices using event-driven architecture. As the company was moving towards using Kafka, our project was also one of the pioneers of that technology. In the end, I gained back-end related tech knowledge and proved to myself that besides backend, I can comfortably work in backend systems as well.

During the backend project, I also joined our front-end council, where my focus was on improving our developer community. It resulted in me organising meetups and engineering bootcamps, which I really enjoyed as I could practice my communication and organizational skills. In hindsight, I believe it's made me a better project manager.

During the second half of the year, the idea of creating an internship program in the company emerged. Together with two other developers, we took the idea, came up with a real plan, and made sure we have actual projects to build. Looking back, I believe we did a great job - everything was really well thought through and all the interns landed a real job. From a personal perspective, it was also a great chance as I got to lead the biggest project of the program and also freshen my React skills, as most of my team's projects were in Vue.

The year ended with an awesome Christmas party. I really enjoyed my time in the company at that point, although I remember thinking more and more about becoming a senior developer.

Year 4 - Creating an impact, but still not happy

At the beginning of the 4th year, my manager told me that I'm gonna be promoted to the final level of mid-levels. The next step from there would be becoming a senior dev.
I was both sad and happy- happy for the advancement, but a bit sad and demotivated as I was hoping to become a senior developer. I must say it's a tough topic as I constantly compared myself to both devs in my team but also to other devs in the company.

After some self-reflection, I understood that although I had always tried to do more than expected, I was juggling between too many different areas. I needed to focus on specific topics, namely front-end development. As the internship program was still going on, my first goal was to finish it successfully - by making sure we deliver the project and get all the interns hired. And it happened!!! ALL 3 of them became junior devs in our company (and here I must give a huge shoutout to all the other developers connected to the program).

Once the internship program was over, it was time to level up my FE development skills. Fortunately, there were talks about restructuring our public services' FE components. Without thinking, I took the initiative as I was really opinionated on the matter and saw that both the underlying design system but also the component library was lacking and must be done properly by someone who understands both the designers and developers. And I thought I could be that person.

Everything seemed to go according to the plan. We had workshops about the design system with designers and developers when suddenly, the corona pandemic hit the world. I'm not gonna go into that topic, but basically, it meant the company had to do some tough decisions. Amongst other things, we had to lay off some people and also freeze all the promotion-related activities.

For me, it meant our design system project got delayed and I joined another team's project which was more urgent business-wise. Thinking back, to me personally, it was a good thing as I got to do some more advanced React development.

Around the same time, more and more recruiters started contacting me(maybe because of this channel?). Initially, I told them I'm not interested but then it suddenly hit me- it's an opportunity to test my skills but also see what other companies are up to. I saw it as a chance to validate to myself that once the pandemic is over, I'm worthy of becoming a senior developer. The following months were full of ReactJS. I worked from home, mostly pair programming with a good colleague of mine.

The other teams' project finished in the middle of summer. I took a short vacation, after which I could finally start the project of our new design system and component library. We had two designers and 4 developers(me included). Without going too deep into this topic, it was a truly fun time, as I got to lead a team again, have an impact on how the new design system was created but also improve my React skills, as one of the devs in our team was truly on another level.

I felt that this is what I want to do - work with amazing people on projects that have importance. That said, I wasn't truly happy. I felt something was missing. I was a bit burned out, but I knew there's something more. As I was also actively going to interviews in other companies, the thoughts of leaving the company came to my head.

At some point, a friend from the university times wrote to me saying they're looking for a full-stack product engineer in a startup dealing. I was hooked, momentarily as the company dealt with topics like artificial intelligence, psychology and politics. Thinking I'm not gonna pass the interviews, I was offered a job. After declining initially, I finally came to the conclusion that it's my time to move on (I will be sharing the points I analyzed for making the decision in the next article).

In October, I gave a presentation to my team about our new design system and the component library it accompanies. It seemed to me we had done a good job.
And just as everybody were about to leave the room, I asked them to stay for a few more minutes to announce I'm gonna leave the company.

I took a month-long vacation as I was also really feeling burned out. (I've also shared my experience in another video which I'll share in the description). After the vacation, I returned for a couple of days to see how the component library is doing and to say my goodbyes to all the awesome people in Pipedrive. The last day in the office was really hard. But I was happy as I had made a decision that takes me into an environment that forces me to learn new things but also utilize all my current skills.

As you can see, the fourth, final year in the company was really about focusing on one thing, having an impact and getting promoted(although in the end, I left the company before that)

The conclusion

It wasn't easy. After 4 years, I dare to say that Pipedrive is a great company. The product, the technology, the vision. But most importantly - the people. The people who are motivated and have a "can-do" attitude. If one were to ask me which company to join in order to grow as a developer, I'd tell them to go to Pipedrive.

There were still things I wanted to achieve in the company, but I felt I wasn't giving my best anymore. And moving on...Well, 4 months later, I can say it was the right thing to do as I've met so many new great people, learned new technologies and have been able to utilise all my skills.

Regarding making the final decision of leaving the company, there were various aspects I analysed. My next video's going to be about my thought process around leaving the company so you could get some ideas when you're in a similar situation.

I hope my 4-year-journey helps you to see that it's important to work hard, be humble and keep focus, although, at times, I lost mine. Nevertheless, I'm still happy as I gained new skills by doing public speaking, organizing events and eventually even starting a YT channel. And that's why I want to end by saying that keep up your growth mindset and seek opportunities to go out of your comfort zone, no matter if it's vertically or horizontally.

And a shameless promo - if you are interested in coding, growth mindset and are willing to share your experiences, ideas, then please do PM me on Twitter :)!

DeveloperHabits
📷 Youtube: developerHabits
👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/developerHabits
👉 IG: https://www.instagram.com/developerhabits

How to stand out as a dev? Advice from a recruiter with over 350 devs hired

kethmars — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 19:34:47 +0000

Hey people!

I'm super excited because I can show you today's interview in Developer Habits! We are talking to Olga Shatokha, a recruiter who gave me a chance to become a professional developer when I joined Pipedrive.

Olga's an experienced talent hunter who's worked in big companies like Pipedrive, Printify and now also owns her own recruiting agency.
We talk about Olga's experiences and life as a recruiter but also more developer-oriented topics like how to stand out as a developer, how to improve your portfolio, what kind of questions you should be prepared for during an interview and well...what makes a great developer.

I genuinely believe it's one of my best and most genuine interviews as it contains information helpful for all levels of developers!

Olga's recruitment agency called Bee's Knees:
https://beeskneeshire.com/

Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:00 - Beginning of the interview
01:25 - Olga's background
05:00 - Moving from Ukraine to Estonia and to Pipedrive
06:15 - How to hire when culture's important?
12:30 - Differences between interviewing a junior and a senior
15:00 - How to stand out as a developer?
17:05 - The importance of side projects
19:00 - Tips for creating a good CV
21:15 - The (non)importance of education when applying for a job
23:45 - How to prepare for an interview?
29:50 - The RED FLAGS during an interview
35:25 - Why ask uncomfortable / not that obvious questions?
40:30 - Olga's career after Pipedrive
44:44 - Scaling companies - Pipedrive and Printify
48:03 - Olga's own agency called Bee's Knees
51:00 - What's the one habit that has made you a better recruiter?

And a shameless promo - if you are interested in coding, growth mindset and are willing to share your experiences, ideas, then please do PM me on Twitter :)!

DeveloperHabits
📷 Youtube: developerHabits
👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/developerHabits
👉 IG: https://www.instagram.com/developerhabits

What are 3 non-tech books that have made you a better developer (and person)?

kethmars — Mon, 08 Mar 2021 09:57:16 +0000

Hey you awesome people!

I'm looking into new books to read, both fictional and non-fictional and was hoping the amazing community here could help out.
That's why my question is:

what are the best non-tech books that have made you a better developer(and person in general)?

In my case, it's:

Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - a book that talks about mental heuristics. It really made me a more critical-thinking person. My summary from a developer's perspective can be seen in this video:
Atomic Habits by James Clear - the book that made me improve my life in general, both coding and non-coding part. It gives great advice on how to build good habits. My summary from a developer's perspective can be seen in this video:
So Good They Can't Ignore You by Cal Newport - a book that helped me to form a mindset that's been helping me throughout my career. Put in the hours, work hard, FOCUS. Become so good they can't ignore you.

So, what's your take on the matter :)?

Oh and...! If you are interested in coding, growth mindset and are willing to share your experiences, ideas, then please do PM me on Twitter :)!

DeveloperHabits
📷 Youtube: developerHabits
👉 Twitter: https://twitter.com/developerHabits
👉 IG: https://www.instagram.com/developerhabits

Forget Silicon Valley! 5 reasons to relocate to work in the leading country of e-governance!

kethmars — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 04:10:33 +0000

Estonia, my birth country, celebrated its 103rd independence day on the 24th of February! That's why it seemed like a great idea to share my enthusiasm for our awesome country and how we use technology to it's fullest in order to strive as a nation through a video.

Some quick fun facts:

Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Finland, Sweden, Latvia and Russia. The territory of the country is 45 227 km2 and the population of the country is 1.3 million. The official currency of the country is the EURO and today we're celebrating our 103 birthday! Oh, and the capital's Tallinn!
President(Kersti Kaljulaid) and Prime minister(Kaja Kallas) are both women
Our capital, Tallinn was the European Capital of Culture in 2011
Online voting already since 2005
We've got 4G coverage even in the middle of the woods. And yes, I've tried it out!
We've got a thing called "E-Residency" so you could become a resident...right away to make business etc.

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:07 - Fun facts
02:38 - Reason 1 - The country of innovation and e-governance
03:50 - Reason 2 - Unicorns! Unicorns everywhere!
05:08 - Reason 3 - The work-life balance
06:35 - Reason 4 - The beautiful and accessible nature
07:55 - Reason 5 - IT talent! We're looking for you!
08:45 - Conclusion

In case you want to read more about the things I spoke about:
Fun facts about Estonia - https://www.workinestonia.com/living-...
Work in Estonia website - https://www.workinestonia.com/
Living costs - https://www.studyinestonia.ee/living/...
E-Estonia website - https://e-estonia.com/
5 unicorns - https://investinestonia.com/world-lea...
E-residency website - https://e-resident.gov.ee/
Software engineering jobs insights - https://app.meetfrank.com/insights/so...
Article about Pisa rankings - https://www.bbc.com/news/education-50...
Estonia's Wikipedia website - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia

How to price yourself as a freelance developer - 3 strategies

kethmars — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 17:12:16 +0000

5 years ago I was paid 800 euros for a website that took me one full week to build. Last week, I finished a project for 5000 euros which only took me one full day of coding. In both cases, the client got what they needed. But what made the difference? My pricing strategy.

You can also check out this topic in my Youtube channel called Developer Habits

The three pricing strategies

I've been freelancing since I was a teen. In the beginning, money was of not importance to me(or well...not the priority). I got paid for doing what I loved- creating beautiful websites. But as I've grown older, valuing my time, knowledge and experience has changed the way I approach my pricing strategy. In the big picture, I see there are three pricing strategies one could utilise as a freelancer.

Hourly-based pricing

Most people working full-time get hourly salary. It's secure and one can get paid for the time spent working.

Based on my experience, hourly-based pricing works well for projects with lots of ambiguity. Whether it's because of the size of the project, the nature of the client or whatever reason. This pricing strategy will protect you from building extra features for free or making just letting the client come up with unnecessary additions.

How much to charge for an hour? It really depends on your skillset, portfolio and clients and there's no great advice I can give here. I've heard a rule "annual salary minus 3 zeros". So if a developer with your experience earns 35 000€ per year, your hourly salary could be 35 euros.

In the end, hourly-based pricing is a simple, yet secure way to price yourself as a developer. But to be honest, it's quite similar to having a full-time job and I believe there are better options.

Project-based pricing

A fixed price for the project? This is how I've priced for most of my projects. Sometimes I've regretted it, though in most cases it's been the right thing to do.

Thing about project-based pricing is that you have to know really well what you're doing. Or you just have to be motivated because you like the project, the client, it's cause or technologies you're using. Whatever the case, project-based pricing can be tricky.

Before agreeing on a project-based pricing, I strongly recommend you to agree on the requirements of the projects. And trust me, I mean it! There can be no ambiguities. I've been part of projects where we've agreed on very broad goals, resulting in doing tons of extra work. It's especially energy consuming in cases where your vision doesn't align with that of your client.

In case you're more experienced, project-based pricing can be a great way to make money while saving time. If you're able to analyse the needs of the project, use lean methods and achieve the goals of the client with little-effort, project-based pricing is the way to go.

Value-based pricing

Imagine you build an e-commerce website for a client and you agree that on each sale, you'll get 0.1 euros. You believe in the project and agree to build it for a small fee. A couple of years later, you client makes 100 000 sales per month. That'd mean you make 10 000 euros per month, basically for just doing maintenance and keeping the page up. It's like investing, but only through freelancing. That's why I love value-based pricing.

The way value-based pricing differs from other aforementioned strategies is that it's riskier. Usually, smaller clients agree to it and you most probably have to accept a smaller initial pay, but it can pay off really well if you believe in what your client does and they actually succeed.

If you're not interested in such risk, there's another way to negotiate your fee using value-based pricing. Ask your client "How many extra sales are you expecting to get through the new website" and then "How much is one sale worth?" From that, you can calculate a fee that's comfortable to you.

Let's say your client expects to get 100 extra sales using the website(compared to the old site), each worth 1000€. That means, per year, the client makes extra 100 000€. Asking...let's say 25%, or 25 000€, doesn't sound much, because your client will get 75 000€.

Although value-based pricing is riskier and sometimes harder to negotiate, it's also the method that can bring in the biggest amounts of money. If you have the skills, go I'd recommend to try it out.

Which strategy to choose?

All the aforementioned options are great...After all, you're getting paid(in most cases, but that's another story). But I believe one can draw connection between one's skillset and pricing strategies. Let me elaborate.

If you are a beginner, I'd recommend to go for project-based pricing. Why? Because you're a beginner and most probably you'll be spending more time on projects than expected. If you don't know technologies and are just learning, project-based pricing is a great way to get paid for that.

In case you're a bit more experienced and already know the tools, you can choose between project-based pricing and hourly billing. Hourly billing is great because it secure, while project-based pricing can be used when there are no unknowns. Between the two, I prefer project-based pricing, because that way I can set the price based on my gut feeling, which in smaller projects, hasn't let me down. Hourly billing means I'm selling my time and with freelancing, I'm striving for complete freedom, not selling my time.

And my favourite one- value-based pricing. I love it because it can bring in passive income. But that method also assumes you have business thinking and are able to articulate and actually realise the value you bring to the client.

Conclusion

Pricing yourself as a freelancer can be tough and it really depends on your skills, experience and the project. Which one suits you? Based on my experience, in case you're looking for security, hourly-based pricing is the way to go. If you know what you're jumping into, go with project-based pricing. And if you know the business and believe in the client, try to negotiate a deal using value-based pricing. So I urge to - before agreeing to some certain price, think about what are your options.

Are you really using WordPress template as a developer?

kethmars — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 16:27:50 +0000

Besides working full time as a full-stack product engineer, I also do some freelancing. The reasons for that vary - sometimes I want to try out new technologies but don't have a great side-project idea, sometimes I want to make some money extra money. Throughout the years, I've been part of at least 30 projects, both smaller and bigger, on design- and development side. Some of them have been fully custom-built, some of have been built using ready-made templates.

What I've learned is that freelancing is not about being a great developer.

Reading the previous sentence again, the developer in me just screamed. WordPress templates? What I've learned is that freelancing is not about being a great developer. It's about being a great salesman, product person and a project manager. Therefore, when coming up with the requirements and solutions with the client, one shouldn't think only from a developer's perspective.

You can also check out this topic in my Youtube channel called Developer Habits

That's why, in this article, I'm sharing why sometimes it's better to just use WordPress template, even though my desire to code says otherwise.

It really depends on the requirements

When people ask me for a website, they usually have some kind of business goal in mind. Maybe it's because they want to get more leads, maybe they want to sell more products via e-commerce. Whatever the reason, as a freelancer, I must remind myself to think from the client's perspective.

That's where the following questions come in:

What's the problem you're trying to solve?
What's your budget?
How much time do you have?
Do you have your own vision?

Based on the answers, the solution can be a custom one that involves tons of coding, collaboration with external designers, product people etc. Usually, though, the client has a small budget with a non-established branding and a tight deadline. That's where a developer must really think.

What's your goal with the project?

Let's say that you've agreed to deliver a project. It pays well enough but there's a tight deadline. In such cases, I always ask myself- what's my goal with the project? Is it to earn money? Is it to test out some new technology?

In case my motivation is to learn, it's simple - I choose the desired technology and commit to delivering a working solution, no matter the cost. Such decision is made considering the risk that the fee I get may not be in correlation with my time input.

Sometimes though, I just want to make extra money. In such cases, I tend to look for lean solutions that deliver the best outcome with a minimum effort. And that's where WordPress templates come in.

Time equals money. WordPress templates save time

As a developer, I sometimes feel that using WordPress templates is a bad thing - I mean, I could code it all myself. Then again, there are too many positive aspects to consider. One of them is the fact that it saves tons of time and energy.

By giving your client a selection of templates to choose from, you can shorten the whole design process. You kind of force the client to think inside a box because they have all the possible options in front of their eyes. And when needed, you can just adjust the selected template to their brand.

And it gets better. The design you've "created", is already coded and implemented in the CMS, meaning the time needed for coding is quite minimal. In case there's a need for customisation, you can still do that by adding your own code.

Need a new feature? Probably it already exists

A situation I've faced multiple times - we've agreed on the design and features of a website, everything's ready but just before we're about to launch, the client has a new idea. In most cases, telling your client the extra cost for the additional features will help them decide if it's really necessary. In case it is, using templates make it easier to developer extra functionality.

The thing with ready-made templates is that they already have a code-base you can make use of. Not only, they already include the styles and widgets you can reuse. For example, in my latest project, the client needed a carousel component which we hadn't discussed before. As the template I was using already had a carousel widget coded, it was easy to address the client's wish with some customised CSS styles applied.

Other's take care of the maintenance

Another great advantage of using ready-made templates is that the creators of the template usually take care of the maintenance. So when the WordPress version is updated, you can just update the template and save the time you'd otherwise spend debugging. But remember - if you've got some custom code somewhere, you may need to double-check it.

Conclusion

Freelancing isn't just about coding. Your priority should be to deliver a solution to a problem. As developers, we obviously want to write new code, but using WordPress templates for freelancing can save you tons of time if it fits with the solution the client's looking for. So remember that in case there's no custom business logic nor brand visuals and new developments are needed in the future, using templates can make sense.

Also, If you're interested in topics related to developer growth and universal knowledge that helps you get to the next level as a dev, check out my Youtube channel called Developer Habits.

Want more info like that?
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