Growing as Makers Archives

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Growing as Makers

You Can’t Always Outwork the Requests! (How to Reduce an Overloaded Queue)

Talented people often have more requests than time to accomplish them. Their natural tendency is to power through, but that definitely has a limit.

Growing as Makers

Collaborating? Frame Your Ideas with Curious Humility

It takes bravery to admit to a peer that you don't know something—especially in a way that works toward alignment rather than competition.

Growing as Makers

Why “Fake It ’til You Make It” Is Bad Advice, and What to Do Instead

None of us feel confident 100% of the time. So instead of lying about it or beating yourself up, be genuine and keep a ravenous appetite for knowledge.

Growing as Makers

A Practical Guide to Breaking into Software Development

A lot of people believe all Computer Science majors have been programming since they were 10. Not true. Here’s how this former musician became a developer.

Growing as Makers

Using Core Consultant Skills to Climb the Learning Curve

When making custom software there's bound to complexity. Rely on these basic consulting best practices to make sense of new and complex information.

Growing as Makers

How Being a Consultant Taught me to Appreciate the Value of Time

After I started tracking time as a consultant, I realized how scarce time really was. It's taught me to question the value of every activity I do.

Growing as Makers

Don’t Go to a Software Conference for the Technical Stuff

It's tempting to think that a software conference is a vehicle for new tech. If that's all you're getting, you aren't getting enough.

Growing as Makers

Finding Inspiration for Conference Talks and Blog Posts

What have you learned or changed recently? If your answer is "nothing," is that a problem? If you don't engage with the community to get ideas—why not?

Growing as Makers

Finding a Win-Win in Difficult Situations

I've learned that finding a win-win takes stepping outside of the situation, having empathy for the other party, and some creative problem solving.

Growing as Makers

On Becoming a Wizard: Strategies for Keeping Up as a New Developer

Eventually, I realized that the problem wasn’t my failure to remember library names. What made the difference in my understanding was how I asked questions.

Growing as Makers

Finding Your Path to a Second Career in Software Development

Going back to college to get a degree isn't the only—or the easiest—way to start a second career. I see three main routes into software development.

Growing as Makers

Two Resources for Introducing Young Developers to Testing and Quality

Resources to introduce developers to testing concepts and quality attributes that they should be thinking about in their work.

Growing as Makers

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