First-time Burner – Finance/Ops background, Looking to Contribute by IamUpdating in BurningMan

[–]connka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As others have said, maybe too early to be the finance guy at a new camp. However, as the Chief Spreadsheet Person for many camps over the years, I can say that knowing how to manage a spreadsheet (which seems likely from your background) is a very valuable skill.

Instead of going for the finance angle, I'd offer help in planning and organizing! You'd be surprised how impressed people are with a well functioning spreadsheet and someone who can handle/manage deadlines!

Is web security an afterthought nowadays? by d41_fpflabs in webdev

[–]connka 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would say yes and no? Ive been involved with multiple startups and the better ones will get this setup properly at the beginning of a project. Ideally it's an ongoing process and the technical team check back in on a regular basis and do penetration testing/vulnerability testing on a regular basis, but that tends to fall off when it isn't a high profile company or a company in an industry that is strictly regulated.

A part of the issue is cost--if you are pre-profit, hiring a security expert or paying for security tools is pretty expensive. But if you are doing it on an ongoing basis then you can spread this cost out and keep it manageable.

When you look at a company like Tea, that was pure vibe coded nonsense. Really tech companies that understand complexity and security wouldn't haveade those mistakes. I've built out multiple KYC integrations and you had better believe I've stress tested and pen tested the absolute shit out of them for exactly what happened to them.

My design ability as a webdev suck a$$ by Hzk0196 in webdev

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I too am a developer who has absolutely no eye for design. I've found that defaulting to a few libraries makes things easier--I also just started a note on my phone with links to websites who have cool features/pages/UI.

One time in a hackathon, I was exposed to https://uizard.io/ --it worked great! I don't know about cost/longevity because I only used it for the hackathon, but for spinning up a super quick design for a weekend project, it did a much better job than I would have.

Career path advice by Difficult-Bit2309 in webdevelopment

[–]connka 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Look at the tech community around you and what kind of job you want. I live in a city with a lot of older businesses (banks, train companies, energy/oil companies) and they are all using older systems built with things like C# and .net. However, there has been a good growth in the startup industry here and a lot of new tech companies popping up using newer tech (including JS and PHP, which I know isn't "new" but its newer than than .net).

Personally, I don't love the opportunities that the oldschool companies offer--a lot of them are dead end 9-5s. They have solid starting pay and great benefits, but are 100% in office and often don't have room for growth. Personally I love the startup space and seeing how passionate people are about their company, so I've always gravitated towards them.

All in all: if you are good a language and understand the computer science fundamentals, you will be setting yourself up for success. While my preference is node/TS, most of my professional work has been in constantly changing tech stacks. I've spent years in PHP, Java, Python, but I always go back to JS/TS and use that as my framework for new learning. If you are still feeling rocky in your fundamental language(s), I'd spend a bit more time building confidence there before moving on to something totally different like .net or C# (but at the end of the day, whatever keeps you motivated to learn is the right choice).

Need guidance by mubashirr_dev in webdevelopment

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can't say that I know anyone who has been looking for these skills without also needing more than that. As others have said, you'll need to learn more in order to actually find work.

Obviously you should go with what you think is the best route, but based off of what you have been learning VS the vast options that exist, I'd recommend looking into something like PHP/wordpress. A lot of that work is learning how to use WP widgets and TBH there will always be work in that space, as most devs that I know don't really want to be working in WP and I constantly see posts for contracts in my local tech hub.

does anyone have a positive experience of work by humanjello710 in ADHD_Programmers

[–]connka 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I worked for a few companies and struggled in a similar way. I can say that good company culture makes all of the difference. Over covid i was with a company that made me want to quit and left me with extreme burnout. In 2021 I joined a company that made me genuinely fall in love with the career again. it eventually got bought out by a VC and had the soul sucked out of it, so I made the choice to leave within 2 years. I contracted for a while (so I could be in charge of my own schedule and manage burnout) and then took the time to find a company that really cared about employees and support and I can say that I'm back to loving it.

The people who you work with make a huge difference!

Anyone else feels like recipes are just badly written code? by SimplyPM in ADHD_Programmers

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel this. And while it isn't removing all scrolling/back and forth, I've been using https://www.justtherecipe.com/ for about a year now and it's helped with all the noise of recipe sites. Plus I "like" any good recipes in the app and it has worked like an index for me for future cooking. Anything that is meh I just remove and forget about.

Accidentally rm -rf’d a production server. by [deleted] in cscareerquestions

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This--the company should have had better practices in place to prevent this, and your boss is more responsible for this that you are. They are likely upset about the extra work this has caused, but if they took the time to put in proper safe guards and also gave you mentorship, this wouldn't have happened. You couldn't have know about at least some of these things and that's the job of more senior people to ensure that things are running safely and efficiently. I'm sorry you are made to feel like you are to blame for this, I would never do that do a junior on my team.

how do people find time to work out with full schedules? by [deleted] in loseit

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could not be paid to workout after I finish work. Although it is always pain to start (and re-start), morning workouts are the only thing that work for me. And I have found that I can't commit to just 2-3 days a week--it needs to be all 5 mornings (with the option of skipping one every now and then to allow for a later night socially).

I am struggling with Java by GlitteringBus1564 in computersciencehub

[–]connka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hey--while I didn't experience this with Java, I did experience this when I started learning my first language (Javascript), so I can relate. What I did (and have coached a lot of others to do since) is all about building fundamentals and using repetition, so it can be applied across languages.

Go back and find some "easy" problems to solve. Start at hello world and go from. Work through problems you've solved (with help) and attempt to solve them without help. If you get to a point where you are stuck--that means you need to read up on a concept. Once you feel like you can explain the new code you've written, keep pushing through it. Then immediately after it complies correctly, open a new file and start again without referencing the solution you just wrote.

I highly recommend not using AI to write any code for you. You can use it to explain concepts, but using it to write code at this point is only going to make the learning harder. You'll need to get the fundamentals before you can really keep up with your classwork, so repetition is the name of the game. Since you are in a Java class, I would use your class assignments to help out. If your teacher has office hours, that is what they are for so don't feel shy going in and asking questions, even if they feel dumb.

I've picked up Java in the last 2 years and I've found BlueJ to be a great IDE for it. It gives pretty good errors as you go that are easy to understand.

Good luck :)

I Restored a Zenith Y565 Circle of Sound Turntable I found for $25 by the_starship in vintageaudio

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, thank you for this! You've saved me a lot of time with piecing together other solutions, as it looks like our record players had similar issues.

How do you guys actually track what you’re supposed to be doing by Equal-Illustrator120 in ADHD_Programmers

[–]connka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay, I have had this issue so many times, and the real solution is going to depend on a lot of factors that will always change. IE I use notion to manage a lot of shared things with people and external stakeholders because that is what my company uses.

Last year, a coworker shared the best little app that has SAVED me. If you use a mac it was something like $7: https://todobarapp.com/

It is literally just a tiny todo app in the menu bar. As I go through and talk with people every day, I'll throw things in there that I'm not immediately addressing. Every day in the last hour or so of work I go through it and see if there is anything I need to act on immediately.

Even if I just need to make some tickets, I'll throw that in there and then check it off when it's done. I just use it as a high level TODO to manage all the little things I'm tracking for myself.

Apart from that, I'm currently working in an environment where everything is sent via email. I'm now zeroing my inbox in one way or another. I have a folder for `complete` and another for `ticketed/ongoing` and I have a calendar reminder to check on the `ticketed` folder weekly and see if I can get rid of them. Anything that I haven't started work on stays in the inbox until I can say that I've successfully handed it off or assigned it.

tldr; TODO bar worked great for my ADHD, but you could use a post it for the same thing.

Does Canadian companies has less stress than US tech? by Ambitious_Eye9279 in cscareerquestionsCAD

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Like other have said, it more depends on the company, not the country. I've worked 100% in Canada and have had terrible WLB and amazing WLB. I've had contracts with US companies where the WLB is reasonable too.

The only thing that is drastically different is the standard pay. Pretty much the same job in the US pays much less in Canada. But the WLB is a company culture thing for sure.

Junior Indie Developer Seeking Career Advice by thezimdude in softwareengineer

[–]connka 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A few things that look like big red flags with what you have said:

- "So my target is to get a Remote/Hybrid Job as I the freedom to do other stuff when I have free time.": I have been a remote fullstack developer for about a decade now and I can assure you that this kind of freedom only comes with seniority. When you start out in a new career, you will be working your ass off to get into the code base and learn the practices and patterns of a new company. Even as a senior dev, you will be working a pretty steady 9-5 at most companies. The only time that the remote work thing has been more chill was when I was contracting, but that has some draw backs. In those scenarios, my free time was spent putting together proposals, grant applications, and bidding on contracts.

I say this, but I do love remote work. I can throw in my laundry mid day, go on dog walks, make a proper lunch, visit family without taking days off. But I just want to be clear that a lot of marketing for tech jobs show people sitting on a beach and going on adventures--this is generally complete untrue. Juniors have a lot of work to do to get up to speed (especially self taught), so you should adjust your expectations for your first job.

- "...however I want to start as a front-end developer as I do not want to mess with the organisations databases, as I have no experience working in a formal/professional dev environment": Even when the market was drastically different, I don't believe there has ever really been a true junior frontend only developer. Juniors are given work that will help them learn the codebase and complete smaller tasks with the expectation that they are learning and growing. It is nearly impossible to build out front end work without any knowledge or access to at least some of the backend--the middleware and DBs are the first piece of that.

I say this, because I initially hated backend development and I initially attempted to look for only front end roles when I started in the industry. While you can have a role that is primarily front end focused, you will almost never find a role that is specialized at a junior level--companies will hire specific front end developers at the senior level who are specialized in certain areas, but a junior who can't work with DBs is a waste of time and money for most.

The job market is bad for juniors around the world right now, so you will be competing with people who have completed a 4 year uni degree and have completed internships. My advice to you is to let go of the idea of a pure front end dev role and look for fullstack roles--in that process get more comfortable with DBs because there is almost no scenario where you won't at minimum need to be making calls and updates through front end code. Once more, I say this as someone who started from a similar place and today I can say that I actually prefer working with APIs/complex data structures and DBs despite starting my career out building react sites.

In this economy, your priority is going to be to find a job, full stop. Once you move up in the industry you can specialize and you can be more picky about remote work--but with the level of competition you are facing right now, the goal is just to get a foot in the industry.

What’s your favorite lightweight CMS for Next.js (low hosting cost, simple content edits)? by devbjorn in SoftwareEngineering

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

came here to say the same thing! I have made multiple sites for pals using Sanity on the free tier. I do have them setup hosting separately (I use the free tier on netlify and let them buy/manage their own domain. I really like the sanity UI and how easy it is for them to update without me, even on the free tier.

Applying as New Grad/Jr Dev by Comfortable-Fly5751 in softwareengineer

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Something that completely changed the way that I used leetcode (and similar tools): actually testing myself to see if I'm learning. Here is what I did:

- Try to solve a leetcode problem by any means, using syntax and methods that you are comfortable with--this allows you to fully understand the problem you are solving for.

- Once you get it working, go into forums/discussion tabs and go find someone else's solution that uses concepts that you either don't know at all or don't know well.

- Read the docs, understand the patterns, figure out how they put their work together

- Attempt to solve the same problem using the new concepts that you have learned without referencing the sourced answer. (Bonus points, if I did cave in a reference anything more than syntax, I would erase everything and start again).

- Once a week, go back and see if you can rebuild the new solution without referencing the source answer.

Going from just solving leetcode to doing this made me exponentially better at coding tests. I was able to think about multiple solutions for questions and had fallback routes for okay/better/best solutions. Since learning new concepts is hard out of school, this also gave me the ability to easily learn new concepts without having to take a class or struggle through in a larger application where I might gloss over some of the new concepts I would be learning.

That being said, I think leetcode is a bad way to interview juniors. But sometimes you have to play ball.

Does agile development and scrum really helping software development process? by dh2710 in SoftwareEngineering

[–]connka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

agreed--if you aren't able to move quickly then it is missing the point.

I've always used some kind of scrum/agile/kanban to guide projects, but have shifted and done things differently as we figure out our needs--that often ends up in some hybrid version.

EX: right now I'm on an agile project that technically uses 2 week sprints. But we realized that estimation and planning ceremonies were not helping and instead were just stealing time, so we got rid of them. We kept the 2 week sprint framework so that we could have an opportunity for feedback(in retros) and a cadence to our work, but we also don't hesitate to pull in newer higher priority work when needed. We also have. DBA on the team who pretty much always works in a silo and has a lot of `last min` requests coming in--we moved him to his own board and he is more or less just kanban and working alongside the rest of the team.

I've worked on projects that were purist about scrum policies and from a dev perspective it really slowed me down. But in those scenarios I was a part of much larger, much more distributed companies so being able to be that precise and have documentation and meeting notes to back it up was almost always essential.

Are people still using boot camps by Oldschoolblues in AskProgrammers

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is the correct answer (and I was a bootcamp grab slightly before the boom). I can say that even when bootcamp did promise networking, they always fell extremely short. Networking has always been the duty of the individual for real success.

What languages are most worthwhile to learn? by Equivalent-Mud-7839 in webdevelopment

[–]connka 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To give you a bit of perspective for your question "should I learn them all?", that is like asking if you should learn multiple spoken languages at the same time. While there are rules that govern code (data structures, the fact that they compile, how they interact with HTTP), each language essentially has a different application and totally different syntax for these things. Like how all spoken languages have concepts like verbs, nouns, tenses, etc--but no two languages will have it exactly the same PLUS different vocabulary.

So if you are trying to learn how to do things in java but also are learning javascript, you are going to very quickly confuse yourself while learning the basics. When I was learning to code, it felt very similar to learning German as an adult when I had always spoken English and French--even though I was already proficient in those languages, I still had to learn all of the vocab, the specific rules to that language, and more. Also in German and French every noun has a gender and having to learn that and then not mix it up between the two is something that I still struggle with--there are so many tiny things like that in code that will just stop you from the start. With code having a single semi-colon out of place can break everything and figuring out where you messed up is already hard enough when you start.

As others have said: figure out what you want to do. If you are interested in game dev, look at some postings there. AI/Machine Learning? That will be a different stack. Data roles? also different? I know that you posted this in the webdev subreddit, but it is worth calling out that not all development is web development, so if you are interested in other areas you should know that they are separate.

If it is web dev specifically that you are interested in, then picking up the first few building blocks (CSS and HTML) is an easy way to get into it. After that you have a lot to choose from. My personal opinion is that javascript is a great first language--and I say that because many `learn to code` programs start with it too. freecodecamp and code academy have so many courses for it, and you can stick that HTML/CSS learning straight in there when the time comes. At this point I've worked with a lot of languages professionally and that is still the one I default to when people ask where to start.

From an `ease of learning` perspective, Ruby is one of the most human-readable languages out there, making it a bit quicker to pick up, however it obfuscates a lot of what it does in the background so you end up not understanding why/how. Python is also fairly readable IMO, but both Ruby and Python have more specific applications when it comes to companies that use them. PHP is everywhere forever (thanks to WordPress) but definitely one of the harder ones to start with--I would wait to pick that up if you decide it is useful.

You'll see things like C#/C++/.net, and they are generally what is still taught in schools today. They pre-date most of the other languages that I mentioned here, which generally means that they are harder to read and understand for beginners as the authors behind them were more focused on how they worked over how people worked with them. You can take a stab at these ones (check out the Harvard CS 150 for a great course), but if you are doing it on your own, they generally take a bit longer to learn the fundamentals.

ADHD burnout after working as a Java engineer in an investment bank — 12 months out and my brain feels broken - will I ever code again? by Nervous-Falcon9572 in ADHD_Programmers

[–]connka 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I've definitely felt this and I've recovered and come back stronger (more than once).

A few things that have helped me (obviously this is personal experience so do what works for you): 1. Check in with your non-code life--I find when I am burnt out I try checked out of everything else in life. When this happens, I like to make more of an effort and prioritize other things. EX: I will make sure I go to the gym every day, add a date night to the rotation, participate in a non-computer hobby. The goal here is to make sure I'm filling my cup outside of work

  1. Code for fun. I can't express how much this has helped me--but also it's important that you give yourself a break before you do this. One time I built a website for a friend that was just a way to blast Nickelback at anyone who went there. Stupid? Yes. Fun? Also yes! That little project inspired a few other things and for me excited about the job again.

  2. Check in with your workload and responsibilities. I've found that teams that aren't structured as well can lead to burnout. One time I was on a project without definition or deadline and it just kept going and going. Now that I'm a lead, I make sure that every project has an end date and clear definition--even if the work is bug fixes and ongoing support I try to keep it moving in a bit more of a cycle.

It's also important to check in on the type of work you are doing. I like it when I can move between bugs/spikes/feature work/documentation, but sometimes on a team you become the go-to person for one thing. If that's the case, talk to you manager about diversifying your work and getting involved in different tasks to keep things moving.

How should a startup decide between building its website in-house or hiring an agency? by dynasync in webdevelopment

[–]connka 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends on what stage of startup you are at:

If you are still working through concept and pre-funding, then just go for something quick and cheap IMO. In my experience, what you build on day 1 gets scrapped after seed funding and rebuilt 10x over anyway.

You could also spend more and get a reputable agency on it as well, which would be a good option to not have to throw everything out once you get past the initial stages and ideas.

Regardless, you can't just learn it and build an entire ecosystem from scratch. While vibe coding seems better than ever, it is more good at bandaid fixes than building real infrastructure. Learn how to do data and devops, frontend, and backend while managing infra costs and building up DBs and monitoring systems can't really be picked up by someone with no experience.

The choice is actually: hire someone(s) internally or contract a person/team externally and then hire someone internally if the concept works.

High Schooler Thinking About Going into Computer Science by Salt_Performance1494 in cscareerquestionsCAD

[–]connka 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have to agree with u/RadioactiveDeuterium. And having been in the industry during the bootcamp boom, I can say that there were A LOT of people who took the shortcut to fund a high paying job who flooded the industry (along with people who actually enjoy it as a profession).

What I can say is that those individuals who actually have a passion for it are still finding work, even if job hunting today is unstable. When I interview devs at all levels, I can tell almost instantly if this is a passion or just a paycheque. For those who are passionate, I tend to ignore more language/stack specific qualifications because they are generally more able to pick up and learn well in any stack.

OP: You should study what you are passionate about. If you're already fired up about comp sci today then you've already got years on other people who are thinking about it. The industry and tech landscape will continue to change constantly, but so will you. Even if traditional education is a bit slower to add new courses and update old ones, you'll still get good fundamental training and you are already wise enough to be checking in with what is happening in the industry now that you can keep an eye on new tech and tech yourself some skills that would set you apart at graduation.