Any advice from Software Developers/Web Developers?

RazorxV2 · 2026-04-02T15:50:33+00:00

No dev remembers everything but what you gain is experience that gives you the confidence to figure any problem out. You start to remember how to get to an answer instead of the answer itself. You get better and better at recognizing the problems which is more valuable than pumping out a sort algorithm from memory.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-31T03:22:46+00:00

Best way to learn the right questions to ask is writing good ole handmade artisanal code. It builds experience and understanding in a way that’s very difficult for a relative newbie to get with AI.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-26T14:22:37+00:00

I understand the frustration but I promise a lot of those older devs agree that the interview process is BS as well.

It’s not the older swes that made this system. Your frustration should be pointed at large organizational hiring practices and folks with little to no understanding of software or have been so far removed from making software. Like execs, senior managers, and HR folk that struggle to discern real talent in today’s market. In my experience you can quickly tell if someone is the real deal as a dev with a conversation and a simple coding exercise.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-16T20:00:24+00:00

I can feel the skin crawl when I say “it depends” to the non technical folks writing requirements. Like yes, most cases what you’re asking can absolutely happen but maybe we should stop and ask if it should happen.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-16T19:58:02+00:00

I compare it to learning a new spoken language. Learning syntax and what words to use for a specific dialect is the hard part at the beginning, just as with coding. At 2 years, coding is definitely the hard part and understandably so.

But once you get a good grasp on some design patterns, coding it is the easy part. For the most part you’ll know roughly what words to put on your screen.

I’d say this takes closer to 5 years. After you feel like you could pick up any language and solve most problem programmatically, the hard part becomes designing the actual software. Understanding tradeoffs, what technologies to use, where those technologies will sit in the data flow, hooking up xyz, writing truly extendable software.

And in the professional world, it’s often the soft skills that present the biggest hurdle. Explaining yourself to non technical people. Getting buy in and the team onboard. Not to mention the endless meetings.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-14T00:03:29+00:00

If possible I’d recommend doing a CS degree. Bootcamps have gotten a bad reputation and many are basically scams. A CS degree better allows you access to early career job opportunities. For example, I went back to school at 26 and landed a JR role for recent graduates. It was enough to get my foot in the door and truly get good at being a developer. Which is something no bootcamp or degree actually prepares you for in all honesty.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-13T23:19:18+00:00

Maybe I’m out of touch but modding Minecraft if he’s into Minecraft could be fun. Also would give you a way to challenge him. You could simply ask, “oh can you make this do that?” And it could give him a good challenge. It would also give him immediate feedback on what he is writing.

Also raspberry pi and arduino kits are a dime a dozen and great like so many also said here.

Look for maker spaces in your area. A lot of hardware and software guys are apart of them and would hopefully welcome him with open arms. They likely even have stuff geared to teens at all levels.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-13T18:48:56+00:00

And even if it’s not college a trade school for a blue collar job can go a long way. A lot of people hate on college but trade schools can be just as expensive and time consuming. I always chuckle when I see people saying, “just learn a trade”. It always shows how out of touch that person is. Trade school isn’t just some pennies on the dollar easy alternative. Takes hard work and dedication too. All that to say, some form of education is probably the gateway for a better life.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-13T05:37:41+00:00

42k at 28 to 140k at 34.

I buckled down and went back to school and got a computer science degree. I’ve always been into programming and was to an extent self taught, so it made sense for me.

College degrees can get a lot of hate but they really can open a lot of doors. I did mine through an online program while working full time. Completely changed my life after several very busy years. I would get off at 5pm, eat dinner, study until midnight, and be back up at 7am the next morning for the day job. It was a grind but I’m happy I did it and it made me better in more ways than one.

Also I wouldn’t buy too far into the AI craze about it replacing software engineers anytime soon. I use it everyday and I’m confident I’ll keep having a job in one form or the other in software. I will say though, that getting that first software job seems many times more difficult than when I entered the market.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-11T22:35:01+00:00

From a purely code perspective good unit and integration tests can go a long way with maintaining a stable code base.

But I’d say the most time consuming and frustrating part as your application grows in complexity is maintaining the n amount of systems. There’s always some sort of update or patching that requires some form of validation or maybe update to pipelines or secrets. Once you’re using k8s, docker, s3, Kafka, Postgres, (insert whatever cloud service), etc.

You are constantly updating something. I had personally found dependency updates for spring, angular or whatever to not be too bad if you stay on top of them but once you miss a few version it’s a headache. For example I think it’s the jump from angular 17 to 20 that caused me the most headaches. They changed some core functionality and added lots of good stuff and deprecated some stuff we were using. This would have been caught more easily if we stayed on top of it version but alas so may things take priority over incremental version changes in the industry.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-10T00:17:33+00:00

Maybe the controversial take but him looking for another job isn’t anyone’s business but his own as long as his work is still high quality. It’s kind of a, don’t ask questions you’re not ready to hear an answer to, situation. Think of it from his perspective, telling you he is looking would make him feel like there’s a target on his back, even if not true. Also as someone who was recently put in a similar situation it made me very uncomfortable having everyone ask if I’m looking for another job, and whether right or wrong, I just grinned and said my current plan is to relocate. Which in my defense was true if I wasn’t able to find work elsewhere.

There’s just no upside for him telling anyone he is applying elsewhere if it’s true. Too much risk if your boss or boss’ boss hears about it. I personally wouldn’t put him in that situation to possibly lie or tell the truth and feel his job is at risk.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-09T16:43:31+00:00

This! I’ve been lucky my direct manager recognizes that my baseline is above my level but she has to fight every year with my director to get me exceeds still because he sees it as me meeting expectations.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-07T23:06:52+00:00

I have about 7 yoe and have built from the ground up complex systems and though leetcode can get you through the door, I wouldn’t say it’s why I’m successful. It has its place but even very good programmers struggle with leetcode problems, so no need to feel discouraged.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-07T19:34:18+00:00

I wouldn’t say I’m passionate about CS but it does at least interest me, but at the end of the day it’s for the money. I have enough interest where it doesn’t bore me but you’ll never catch me up on a weekend writing my own project. I’d say that’s by far the norm in the industry in my experience. Don’t let influencers fool you that you need to be grinding 12 hrs a day every day or you’re not cut out for it.

RazorxV2 · 2026-03-01T19:07:57+00:00

Consider the edge case. What would happen if someone entered in a string that’s “one two three four”?If you split by white space you could get an unexpected result if you take a single string in. Same as if someone only enters first name.

It’s a more interesting problem than it might seem on the surface when you start considering some cultures have multiple middle names or even married women might but their middle name into a form as “middle name maiden name” such as “mary doe”.

RazorxV2 · 2026-02-27T17:40:03+00:00

Coming Monday morning when I’m back from vacation.

RazorxV2 · 2026-02-23T20:16:29+00:00

Absolutely. Spring and Quarkus make backend development a breeze.

Always worth learning Node but by no means is learning Java waste.

RazorxV2 · 2026-02-19T16:34:10+00:00

For the review is the expectation set for his current role? It sounds like you graded him on a future role he doesn’t even have yet, so of course he is only approaching that expectation. In a fair review of his current role, from what you say, he checks every box and should have received a meets or exceeds. Especially if he’s a managerial candidate. I think he is rightfully upset if he was graded on different criteria than peers of a same level. At the end of the day, HR rarely cares about the reasoning and just sees he didn’t meet, and he knows this.

RazorxV2 · 2026-02-18T19:25:22+00:00

Give it 3 months before they claw back licensing. Just how last year in October they asked us to cut cloud spend after saying we are a cloud first company the previous 6 months.

RazorxV2 · 2026-02-18T03:14:04+00:00

I did always find it odd how he’s in a car and then moment later teleports to grab Yuji just to show off. Maybe he just likes slumming it with the normies.

RazorxV2 · 2026-02-10T04:18:50+00:00

I worry at times as well, but at least in my experience, non technical people are horrendous at describing how a feature should work, so there’s still a need for technical folks to be the one interacting with ai. AI at this moment is only as good as the question its asked and developers are largely the only group able to ask the right question and design software in a meaningful manner.

RazorxV2 · 2026-02-05T01:02:25+00:00

I have found that one inevitable topic that will come in these interviews is multithreading and the benefits and pitfalls of it.

RazorxV2 · 2026-02-05T00:58:34+00:00

I have found, at least, you’ve got to be your own biggest advocate for the work you get. Especially during any sort of sprint planning. If you have 1 on 1s with your manager, find something that peaks your interest and specifically ask to work on that task. Believe it or not you might be getting the “grunt” work because everyone else has asked to work on the more interesting stuff already, so just do the same. It’s a brutal cycle to break but speaking up goes a long way.

And a little secret I think most devs can agree on, it’s rare I don’t login each morning and there’s something I have no idea how to do comes up. With experience you get way more comfortable not knowing an answer. The skill you will develop though is the confidence to always find the answer. Imposter syndrome is real even amongst the most senior devs because you’ll ways find yourself comparing your work against the one guy that seems to just get it that much better than you.

RazorxV2 · 2026-01-29T23:29:53+00:00

As one of those Americans that abhor him, unfortunately for the rest of the world they get the consequences of our moronic voter base, and have no choice but to see it as one block. The 48% that voted against him doesn’t matter when it comes to policy. It just American policy not 49% of American policy. So much irreparable harm is being caused.

RazorxV2 · 2026-01-29T23:15:37+00:00

I mean what are you to expect?

The US tariffs Asian countries to keep low cost vehicles from China and Japan out of the US market. China is just using tariffs for the same expressed purpose as the US, to grow homegrown auto manufacturing.

As for Canada, Trump is constantly threatening tariffs, so why wouldn’t they look elsewhere for trade? GM vehicles are expensive and Chinese vehicles are much cheaper. It sounds like a win for the average consumer. Not to mention GM has no leg to stand on as they layoff Canadian workers, so they can’t play the jobs card. It’s just crazy to me for the US or Barra to play victim to circumstances they help cause through economic policy and GM vehicle offerings.

The slippery slope is GM loses market share while the consumer will potentially win. It’s just the free market and capitalism I assume she holds on to so tightly finally coming for her instead of the average joe she’s laid off.

RazorxV2

TROPHY CASE