Your Team Needs You! – The Power of Being an “Active Follower”

Good leaders get a lot of credit—and they deserve it. But leaders (and teams!) can only thrive if they have active followers. What do I mean? Let me tell you about an experience I had this year in a very different situation—kayaking off the coast of New Zealand.

Making the Most Out of Job Shadowing

Job shadowing can be stressful. Awkward introductions, unclear expectations, and ambiguous objectives can impede what should be a productive learning experience. Instead, learn from my mistakes. Avoid these common pitfalls, and make the most of your shadowing opportunity.

DEF CON from a Developer’s Perspective

DEF CON was an interesting experience. From the badges to the 110-degree days, a lot happened and a lot was learned. The conference may have a reputation of being a constant party, but it’s more than that. Here’s my account of what happened at DEF CON 26.

Unpacking the Confidence Code, Part 5 – Growing in Confidence

In the sixth chapter of The Confidence Code, Katty Kay and Claire Shipman discuss some tactics anyone can use to build their confidence. Fail Fast This chapter begins with Kay and Shipman introducing the idea of failing fast–an idea that even they seemed uncertain of at first: One of our good friends […] threw two […]

Four Ways to Contribute as a Junior Developer

As a junior developer here at Atomic, I’ve learned a lot in my first few months of work. It’s certainly not easy to begin a career as a professional developer. Surrounded by smart and experienced developers, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by a feeling that you need to contribute to your team and project at […]

Unpacking the Confidence Code, Part 1 – Developing Confidence Together

Earlier this year, ten of the women in our Grand Rapids office came together to read and discuss The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self Assurance—What Women Should Know by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman.

Beyond Coding Bootcamp, Part 5 – Finding a Community

Becoming a software developer is a big undertaking. Finding a community that can help you is vital to your success. Let me be plain about this: I would have failed out of college if I hadn’t sought tutoring from my classmates. If you want to become a software developer without a traditional classroom environment, you’re […]

Beyond Coding Bootcamp, Part 4 – Expanding Your Skill Set

During your quest to become a software developer, you’ll encounter some domains that may or may not merit study in their own right. Everything on this list is valuable but dispensable. You could get a job as a developer (as a member of our Accelerator, for example) without knowing what static analysis is, for instance. […]

Beyond Coding Bootcamp, Part 3 – Learning to Think Like a Programmer

Of all the computer science classes I took in college, there were three that I’d recommend, without reservation, to someone who wants to do my job. Each taught me something that relates to programming as an activity and a way of thinking. There’s nothing terribly domain-specific (like networks or databases, which I will cover in […]

Beyond Coding Bootcamp, Part 2 – Understanding Algorithms

If you’re going to be a developer, you need to understand algorithms. At its most basic definition, an algorithm is just a program. “print(“Hello, World!”)” is an algorithm, albeit a very boring one. As a software developer, your job boils down to reading and writing algorithms, or figuring out why and how some algorithms are […]

Atomic Spin

Atomic Object’s blog on everything we find fascinating.

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