Brian Jenney's Linkedin Analytics

If you're a junior developer preparing for interviews - don't fall into the LeetCode black hole. You're more likely to encounter: - JS trivia - String and Array manipulation problems - Frequency counters - Build a React component that fetches data - 𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 👁️ 👄 👁️ Instead of: - Traverse this tree in O(n) PS. I created a document with everything from LinkedIn tips to writing tests with React Testing Library to binary search and recursion. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱. 👉 https://lnkd.in/gbVjdpNx If you find it useful, share it.

I've had 725 15-minute conversations with many of you. That 180 hours of yapping on the phone over the last 3 years. I've learned a lot about what developers are struggling with and met some amazing people. Believe it or not - I've almost never had an awkward conversation or been cussed out! Almost... I don't plan on doing these chats as frequently but most of you ask the same questions anyways: • How to get hired? • What side project to make? • What should I study for my interview? • Look at my resume/LinkedIn • Rate me on a scale of 1 - 10? Hot or not? I am adding a new episode to the Develop Yourself Podcast called "Office Hours" so I can answer questions at scale. 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗬 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆. Hit me with a question and if it makes sense to answer I'll do it! Leave your name if you want me to shout you out or you can stay anonymous. Add your question here: https://lnkd.in/gYzCQ2UK

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀: How to answer interview questions when your hands are shaking. How to stay calm when you blank on an easy array method. How to explain your thinking when you’re not even sure what you’re thinking. Earlier this week, Alex Lau (author of 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘊𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘖𝘯) gave a talk to our Parsity mentees on exactly that—𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗺, 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿. No fluff. No gimmicks. Just real strategies for not freaking out. I’ve been reading Alex's book as well, and I'd recommend it whether I knew him or not. It’s not just about getting hired. It’s about becoming the kind of dev who knows how to show up under pressure, avoid costly mistakes and have a great career. 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘀. Big thanks to Alex for sharing his story and insights with our crew. *** 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆? Learn more here: https://lnkd.in/gj-AsQfe 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗝𝗦? Join dev30.xyz which is 50% off 🇺🇸

You don’t need to contribute a single line of code to massively benefit from open source: 1. Clone your favorite library/framework 2. Link to a local project using 𝚗𝚙𝚖-𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚔 (or 𝚙𝚗𝚙𝚖 or 𝚢𝚊𝚛𝚗 or whatevs) 3. Extend a common API (𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 3 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘴) 4. Set a debugger and try to hit it 5. Get stuck, get frustrated and read the docs Learn more than fixing a typo in a README could ever teach you.

There are 2 hard problems in software: 𝙘𝙖𝙘𝙝𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙛𝙛-𝙗𝙮-𝟭 𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧𝙨. If you're working on the front end of things and still using 420 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚎.𝚕𝚘𝚐 statements, let me show you a better way to debug your janky code.

Before taking over Parsity, I worked with a handful of developers who wanted to crush the non-FAANG interview. The results: - 6 devs landed new roles with increases between 10k - 50k. - A bootcamp grad negotiated a ~10k increase on his offer. - 1 kid fresh out of college bought a new car! Yeah - I know it's not all about money. But I mean, it's a little bit about that right? I had a ton of fun working with this small group and seeing their confidence (and salaries) rise. That was nearly 3 years ago though. Things have changed. Now, I'm wondering what early-career developers can use the most help with. If you say "vibe coding" I stg...

So far this week I've spoken to 3 mentees Parsity that have technical interviews coming up. They range from system design to your typical "build me a React component" while I watch... creepily. Here's some generic advice to prepare for your coding interviewing (that you didn't ask for): 1. 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹. This isn't weird, it's weird to go in completely blind. 2. 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄. You nerves might get you before the assessment does. 3. 𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱. That time you had a conflict. The time you disagreed with your manager. Something difficult you worked on. 4. 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗕𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗱 to see if you can find recent interview experiences. 5. 𝗣𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗮. Most people won't do this because it's uncomfortable - don't be like most people. I've learned to enjoy interviews after being god-awful at them for years. Remember this: they are a winnable game, and like any game, some luck is involved. Good luck out there. Any interview tips I should add?

Am I just using AI wrong? I've read developers who claim to have 2x'ed 3x'ed or even 10x'ed their productivity with AI tools. My personal experience: • Creating a prototype 📈 • Writing tests 📈 • Refactoring a service used in multiple files to be simpler 📉 • Working with a new library 📉 Google measured the productivity of their own software engineers and found a 10% increase in productivity through the use of AI tools (https://lnkd.in/ggCUducM). AI has absolutely changed the way I write and think through code. How much remains to be seen.

How to make an amazing portfolio as a junior developer. Step 1: Just Have v0 do it. Done. Here’s the real issue: If you’re betting the house on your portfolio getting you a job, you’re already on the wrong track. Nothing wrong with a sexy portfolio. Learning to deploy a web app with a custom domain that looks good on mobile is an important milestone. Consider this: • Instead of trying to build 100 small projects that look like everyone else’s, build 1 or 2 complex projects and deploy them. • Consider integrating an LLM. Perhaps leverage RAG. • Try and get a user or 3. • Buy a domain. • Set up analytics to track who’s on there and for how long. You will walk away with a small business or a cool story that’s light years beyond a glorified TODO app. ** At Parsity, I'm consistently amazed at the projects our mentees cook up. Everything from analytics dashboards to inventory managers to desktop and mobile apps. We work with a handful of people 👉 https://lnkd.in/gVRRK_EP

The stuff they don’t teach you in tutorials… I asked a few recent Parsity grads Jacob Cox and Anne Linebarger what surprised them most after starting their first dev jobs this year. Here’s what they said: “𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦" "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘌𝘖 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴.” “𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘈𝘠 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢 ‘𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦’ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.” These are the kinds of lessons no course or tutorial will teach you, not even https://lnkd.in/gj-AsQfe will fully prepare you for that first day. There is no substitute for time in the saddle. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 (𝗼𝗿 𝗻𝗼𝘁-𝘀𝗼-𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆): What’s been the most surprising part of being a professional coder? What’s one thing you wish you’d learned before you got hired?

During my most recent interview, something strange happened for the first time: The interviewer told me to use AI for the coding challenge. I mean, it makes sense. Denying that AI is changing how we code is silly. (𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 1 𝘵𝘰 1 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵) My interviewers wanted to see how I use AI tools like Cursor and ChatGPT to work my way through a problem, just like back when we asked candidates how they'd find the answer to a problem they couldn't solve. Oddly enough, the interview wasn't any easier. I had to defend my positions for or against the AI-generated code and explain what it was doing. This led to good, healthy discussions. We're in interesting new territory my friends.

Creating a side project is draining. Here's my cheat sheet so you'll never run out of side project inspiration. 𝟰 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘀: 𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀. Check out sites like Acquire[dot]com and WellFound to see what small startups and 1 person businesses are building for inspiration. 𝟮. 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲. 𝗔𝗱𝗱 𝗮 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸. Check out their feature requests or reviews for an app you’re using. What do people want? Maybe build that. 𝟯. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗣𝗜 on rapidAPI or use OpenAI (everyone’s doing it 😎) and think what you can build around it. For example, can you scrape a user’s top posts as a way to train an LLM on their voice and content? 𝟰. 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀. Is there something at work or in your personal life that you do manually that could be automated? Spreadsheets are an easy target. Fix it for yourself and others. You also don’t need to solve anything. A great side project really only has 1 metric for success: you learned something. *** Because I like you (I think) - 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗯 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗲𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀

The technical interview started and I realized I was using Cursor. "Sorry about that, let me switch to VS Code" The interviewer paused. "No, it's fine. Keep it on. We want to see how you use AI tools like Cursor. Let's continue." We've entered into a new era for coding interviews...

I think I may have steered some of you in the wrong direction in your job search. I generally promote using LinkedIn and learning in public as a way to get a job. I even have some templates (reach out if you want em). In addition to smashing the easy apply button and sharing what bugs you’re creating, I would strongly suggest doing this: • Reach out to your current network of non-dev and non-bootcamp friends. • Raise the white flag on IG, FB or TT. Tell your friends, family, old co-workers and that weird aunt that you’re looking for your first developer job. You might be shocked who can point you in the right direction, get you that first contract or tell you about an opportunity you will never see here. A few mentees at Parsity used this approach to find roles that they never would have discovered from searching LinkedIn.

❌ LinkedIn ❌ LeetCode ✅ Job offer Anne Linebarger's unusual story of how she went from teacher to web developer might not be that unusual at all. 1 thing I've learned over the years working with over a hundred career changers: There is no 1-size-fits-all approach. Some Parsity mentees play the LinkedIn lottery and win. Others build in public. Some get nothing but DSA. Most never see a whiteboard. Here's what worked for Anne: 1. Building relationships through genuine conversations 2. Gaining confidence by learning in public (even in small ways) 3. Treating interviews like performances—preparation + presence 4. Saying yes to opportunities even when she didn’t feel “ready” Anne is a musician, teacher and a hell of a guest. She dropped some knowledge you definitely didn't get in college (or your coding bootcamp) *** 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/gxS2h6Az 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗝𝗦? Dev30 is 50% off: dev30.xyz

As a junior developer, I was really anxious that one day my team would find out I was a hack. Then, one day, I actually did get “found out” 😬 I was working at a small startup with some incredible talent and when our star engineer left to pursue his own startup, he gave me some candid feedback: “𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘑𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.” I was embarrassed. He was also correct. I wrote down his suggestions and made a plan to get more proficient with JavaScript and some of the concepts which had always confused me like promises, prototypal inheritance and decorators. It wasn’t even that difficult. I wondered why I hadn’t done this earlier. In fact it’s 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗱 we 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁 Parsity: 1. Open code editor 2. Create a practical example leveraging the concept you're learning 3. Record a video explaining the concept and your code For promises, you could create a promise using the promise constructor and invoke it using the async/await pattern and then refactor it to use promise chaining. Make a video for yourself. NO ONE has to watch it. The video simply forces you to articulate what you’ve learned in plain English. Hope that’s helpful. *** https://lnkd.in/gj-AsQfe is a program for career changers, not influencers, but you WILL be getting on camera 😉. It's awkward. It's cringey. It works.

Unwritten rules of writing (bad) ReactJS: • Export all components as default - now you can import 𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚑𝙱𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛 as 𝙽𝚘𝚗𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚑𝙱𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛 and no one will know! • Use Typescript but just use 𝚊𝚗𝚢 everywhere - it can be fixed… later. • If the component file is less than 200 lines - it’s probably too small. Think bigger. • Got a function that does… something? Wrap it in a 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 just to be safe. • If 1 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝙴𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 does not work, try using more! • Don’t write tests. That’s what users are for. What’d I miss? *** 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵-𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘑𝘚 𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵: https://lnkd.in/g_DTazAE

In this case AI stood for "Actually, Indians". In just the last 6 months we’ve seen: - a beloved language learning company slash it’s workforce - a struggling pay-as-you-go platform fire most of its customer service team - a unicorn startup exposed to be hiring off-shore developers while claiming to use AI - only 25% of AI initiatives delivering expected ROI (𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘺 𝘐𝘉𝘔) I pay for Cursor && ChatGPT because they are amazing. I’ve vibe-coded amazing prototypes. More than half the code I now produce is AI-generated. I have zero clue how anyone who codes for a living views these tools as replacements.

I spent 9 months working with the best software engineer I’ve ever met. It wasn’t just that he could code better than me, because he absolutely could - it was much more than that. I try and steal some greatness from every developer I work with. Here’s what I’m stealing from him: • 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 > 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘆   He found 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 ways to apply principles like SRP and the Open/Closed Principle. Even at an AI startup, principles mean something. • 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁 > 𝗖𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲   If a feature didn’t move a metric, he questioned it. He made sure we weren’t just shipping for the sake of it. The code served the product, not the other way around. • 𝗪𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘀𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴   He could see the second and third order consequences of tech decisions. That saved us time, money, and tech debt. • 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝘁 ≠ 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗽𝘆   He moved quickly, but you’d never catch him committing something brittle or lazy. Speed came from confidence in his fundamentals. • 𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 > 𝟭𝟬𝟬% 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 (𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗶𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱)   He didn’t write tests to pass a linter. He wrote the ones that mattered. Ones that caught regressions and reflected actual user paths. • 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲   If something felt off, he fixed it. No ticket needed. He didn’t wait to be told. The real takeaway I’ve had from working with high performers is that they give a damn. If something looks off, they fix it. No one tells them to refactor or add a test or give an opinion on the UX. They just do it. You know something else I've noticed about 99% of the stellar developers I've worked with? None write on LinkedIn 😅.

I was an engineering manager for a few years and I’ve seen all your resumes. They go something like this: • “𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩” • “𝘉𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 [𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨] 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 [𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺]” • Github link to site that I put in mobile view immediately. And it breaks 😅    Honestly, your resume is less important than you think. It still can’t suck. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 what you should fix immediately: • 𝗱𝗲-𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 - no one wants to take a chance on someone and recruiters have even less incentive to do so. Sell yourself as a developer. Remove junior. Remove aspiring. • 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 - [role] on with [y] which led to [z] - “led development on unit testing suite using Jest and React-Testing-Library which led to increased stability for code releases and a 50% decrease in bugs” • 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗳𝗳 - it’s easy to gloss over a resume when you have 100 to look at. Lead their eyes where you want them to go • 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗲𝗲 - if you don’t have one then build one or just don’t add it. The risk is higher than the reward in many cases • 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗸 - a little humor can go a long way and can make you stand out in a sea of resumes that sounds basically the same Take my advice with a grain of salt, but this would have improved 99% of the resumes I’ve come across. 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 - 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝗱 𝗜 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀?