This week I have decided to write about Stay in the trenches. This refers to deciding to program even when the craftsmen receives a an offer that would pull him away from programming. Dave mentions that the minute the craftsmen stops programming, his skills will fade.

This has certainly been the case for me. In school there were semesters that brought me away from coding. There are many classes that are non programming and when I take so many of those non coding types of courses plus working part time, it was at times hard to find the time to code. So I could only imagine what would happen if I had a job where I couldn’t code every day. Especially with family obligations. I know that my uncle and folks that I have talked to in interviews mention that they don’t code anymore and that they miss it. So I completely agree that skills atrophy when the craftsmen does not use them.

Dave recommends finding alternatives to the managerial promotion. The craftsmen needs to figure this alternative out on his own and write down these rewards. This is something that I will figure out on my own as I have more work experience. I know that these days there are lots of oppurtunities for senior software engineers so I think that if I want to stay in a coding role I am confident that I this type of oppurtunity will exist.

This specific decision is a ways a way for me. But there are similar cross roads in the earler stages of my career. There are positions for new grads that involve different levels of coding. There are Quality Assurance roles that are part of the Software Development Life Cycle but it is not a role that is strictly coding. So it just goes to show that the apprentice will need to choose programming again and again. There are many roles in software that do not involve coding, and it is important to choose programming again and again. This is an important lesson that I will take into my career as I graduate and move into my career in software development.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Jim Spisto by jspisto and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week I decided to right about Nurture your passion. As I finish my academic career and move into the professional world, nurturing my passion is something I will be conscious of.

The problem laid out in this pattern is that the craftsmen is working in a workplace where his passion is stiffled. I think that everyone will experience this. For my part, I have gone to long team meetings that felt like they could have been half the time. And that is one of the best problems to have. Work places can be toxic, or there could not be oppurtunities to learn and grow. With this problem explained, Dave sugguests that the craftsmen should look to nurture his passion outside of his job.

There are a few ways to do this. One is my making interesting side projects or Breakable Toys. I could see this being a nice change of pace, where I could focus more on learning instead of meeting the deadline. Another solution is to meet kindred spirits. Dave suggests meet up groups. One thought I have here is that if I am coding for six to eight hours, five days a week. I may not feel like building breakable toys, or going to meet ups. I like writing code, but not everyone has time to write open source in addition to working a full time developer job.

The action Dave recommends is to write three positive ideas down to bring up at work everyday. And bring one up if things turn negative. Finding happiness and positivity at work is important for anyone. So I think is is a very meaningful pattern.

I think the best advice here is that if the craftsman finds himself at a firm that stiffles his passion, it is time to move on. This piece of advice is very relevant now as we are in the midst of “The Great Resignation”. I think finding a job that a craftman can at least partially nurture his passion is very important. We spend so much of our lives at work. So it is very important to find happiness there, if possible.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Jim Spisto by jspisto and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week I have decided to write about the long road. As we reach the end of the semester, it seems like a good time to acess the road ahead of me as a software craftsmen. Thus far, I have seen my road as just getting a software job. And everything else was secondary to that. That road included going to school, creating a resume, appying for jobs, studying for interviews, and interviewing. Many of these tasks included programming, but most of this time was not actually spent programming. Now I will be starting my first software job after graduation, and it is the perfect time to consider the road ahead.

Dave mentions that a craftsmen can achieve almost anything if he stays with his craft for 20 years. And that learning is a lifetime skill. He also mentions that the craftsmen should value long term growth over all else, including salary. I have seen online that senior engineers can make comparable salaries to technical managers. So I don’t think that craftsmen need to choose between salary and growing their craft. There seems to be plenty of roles that provide learning oppurtunities, and high salaries. But Dave argues that money should not be the main motivator of the craftsmen.

The action is to imagine my career 20, 30, and 40 years from now. It is difficult for me to say what my career will look like this far out. But I know that I want to work in tech for my entire career. I do know for the next five years I want to work as a Software Engineer. With the hopes of moving from Junior level, to a mid level engineer. From there, I may decide to take on a leadership role, while still focusing on the codebase most of the time. This could be a tech lead, or Senior Engineer role. Twenty years from now, I could either be in leadership, or a may be a very accomplished engineer. It would be very rewarding to be the guy that everyone goes to with questions, and I do like helping other people succeed. So this could be a good path. Thirty years from now I could see myself being a leader of a tech focused small business, or maybe freelancing. Going out on my own is something I have always been interested in. Forty years from now I will be sixty eight. So I will likely be getting ready to retire. But who knows, maybe I will still be coding at that time.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Jim Spisto by jspisto and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Draw your own map is a very interesting pattern. And a pattern that feels relevant to my journey. Draw your own map means that a software apprentice may need to leave his current job, if that employer is not providing the right path. What I like about this pattern is that it forces the apprentice to consider, and write down that path that is best for him. Instead of what his current employer wants.

This pattern feels relevant to me as I am graduating and starting my career in tech. I have worked at a company for a few years, in a mostly non programming role. But I have done some coding work part time. Upon my graduation in the spring, I was offered the oppurtunity to stay at my company, and join the automation department. Where I would be developing software. I was very happy to be offered the role, but I had to draw my own map. I knew that I would be able to grow as an apprentice more effectively at a bigger company, with more resources to train me. So I made the decision to move on.

There are many career paths in tech these days, as there are more oppurtunities that there has ever been. Some people stay in development for their entire career, and many switch to management roles. I don’t think that changing to technical management is a bad thing. But I do agree that each apprentice should draw his own path. Because it can be easy to just follow the road that your employer lays out. But it is much more rewarding and fufilling for an apprentice to draw his own path.

There will be more times in my career where I will change paths. I could change the industry I work in, or the tech stack I use. But the idea behind the pattern is that I should make these decisions for myself. As a developer, I am fortunate to have many possible paths, so it is very important that I consider which path will be the most rewarding to me.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Jim Spisto by jspisto and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The pattern I am writing about today is use the source. The problem is that an apprentice can be using bad habits, but he will not know if he is not reading someone else’s code. The author specifically mentions that the apprentice should look at the source code of the tools he is using. One reaction I had to this was an interview experience I had. I solved a coding problem, and my interviewer asked my what the time complexity was. I was using the Java library method Arrays.sort() but I did not look up what the time complexity of that library method. I eventually figured it out. But it made me realize that I should know more about the libraries that I am using in my code.

The author also mentions the importance of refactory code. When reading somebody elses codebase. The craftsmen should look for ways to improce the codebase, and understand why the project is built in the way that it was. This experience could also lead to apprentice refactoring his own code. The author also mentions code reviews. This is something I am really looking forward to as a professional Software Engineer. When we learn the fundamentals school, we are usually working alone, or in a small group. But in the professional world, we collaborate. This will give myself, as an apprentice an oppurtunity to learn from the source code of my coworkers. Open source is another great way for new craftsmen to gain this experience.

The author recommends that the apprentice contribute to open source, so he can read source code, and learn from it. He also mentions that if a programmer can understand a program from the source code, that means he is a good craftsmen. This makes a lot of sense to me, and understandy the code base is typically what a programmer does on their first day or days on the job. In order to contribute to a project of any size, the craftmen should know what the code currently does. So I agree that using the source is an incredibly important skill.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Jim Spisto by jspisto and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week I chose to write about Practice, from the Perpetual learning portion of the book. I think that this is an important topic because practicing is important in any skill or craft.

As a Software Apprentice, practicing is crucial. Practice will help me develop concrete skills in new areas. Concrete skills are necessary to land my first job. And the author poses the problem that my daily programming activities do not give me the oppurtunity to learn by making mistakes. This last part is not true for me. I do have the oppurtunity to make mistakes quite often.

One thing that Dave mentions is that practicing has to be done in a relaxed environment. So personal projects outside of work are an important part of the software craft. This makes sense to me. Because when programming for work. There are calls, meetings, and deadlines.Coding for school projects is similar. But if I am practicing for my own sake, I can relax and focus on learning. Dave also mentions to carve out some time everyday to practice. This makes a lot of sense to me. At the end of the pattern, Dave recommends that I complete the same excercise from scratch, once a week.

Over the winter break, I had some spare time one my hands, and I decided to take on a personal project. I wanted to learn about the React framework, so I decided to build a calculator with React. I made a calculator website one year before with vanilla JavaScript. It was nice to be able to learn at my own pace. And I had to remind myself that I was coding to learn, and it was okay that the project took me longer than expected. This was a good learning experience. I made an app that does works as expected, and I have something new on my GitHub. So practicing helps me to achieve the skills, and as long as I put the code in a public place, the projects become part of my resume. Creating personal projects will be part of my coding journey, and one of my favorite parts too.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Jim Spisto by jspisto and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week I chose to write about “Your First Language”. The problem laid out in the beginning of the chapter is that the apprentice only knows basic knowledge of a few languages. This is a problem I have spent some time thinking about. But it is difficult for me to pick, which language I want to fully dive into. I have programmed in Java, JavaScript, C#, C++, and Python. I know the Java standard library better than any other language’s library. And I know the data types, and data structures better in Java as well. Java is what I learned in Intro to Programming, and Data structures. Java is also what I use for coding interview prep. Many of my peers are language Evangelicals, but I feel like a man without a country. I have never built anything in Java, that wasn’t an academic project, or a coding interview problem. I have used JavaScript and C# do build web apps. With all of this being said, I knew I needed guidance from this design pattern.

The author suggests that the apprentice choose one language to solve problems with. And stick with that language for years. And that his first language will be the basis on which he solves problems. For me, I think I am going to let fate decide. Whichever language I need for my first job, that language will be my first language. Many entry level software job postings just say ” “proficient in one modern language” and the assessment can be taking in any language. The author suggests that the apprentice seek out an expert in the language, so he learn from the expert. When I am on the job, I will have access to experts, and a lot of time to learn. For now, I will keep practicing LeetCode in Java, and build web apps in JavaScript for this course. I don’t have time for much else. But this design pattern has made me realize how important having a strong foundation in one language is, and I am eager to start working towards that goal.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Jim Spisto by jspisto and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.